Acer Aspire Revo / Intel Atom N230 1.6GHz / 2GB / 160GB / Vista Home Premium / Nettop Desktop PC (92.G1EYZ.UFP)

This is a great little pc, which combines the power of the nvidia graphics and the new low energy dual core Atom chip from intel.

As soon as i got it i wiped the hard drive clean of Windows Vista. This was because it ran really slow, and needed upgrading to a better OS; namely Linux.!
I Put Fedora 11 Beta on it, the official stable release of this comes out on the 26th May. I had no problems with the new Beta OS, - the Wifi card works perfectly, however I had to update the graphics driver, from Nvidia's website using a driver similar to the GeForce 9400 thats inside.
It compiled itself from the kernel, so now the 3d graphics are working great, and everything runs smoothly. Although it doesn't say the graphics take up 256MB of the ram, so your'e only left with 1.7GB of memory, and you can't change this in the bios either.

The computer comes with a mount that attaches to the back of the monitor, to keep the computer out of the way, the screws are all included too.Also included is a 3/4 sized mouse & a small keyboard, which is 32cm long and looks similar to a Sony laptop / Mac keyboard, in that every key has a space between each key. It's quite a decent keyboard, not a cheap and nasty one that is usually included, and it feels good to type on, the only downside is that the cord is rather short for both the mouse and keyboard.
The 160GB hdd is massive for Linux, but if you want to upgrade it, then it could be a problem, as it can only take upto a 250GB hdd.
If you did want to upgrade the hdd it could be tricky; to install it i mean, as it's screwed onto the motherboard from underneath.
To open the computer undo the screw that has a waranty void sticker on it,(it's located where the stand goes) then prise it apart, one side will come off leaving the cpu etc on the other piece.
It has 4 screws to undo the mother board from the case (inside it). You will have to carefully unclip the usb and the wireless card, then remove the motherboard and turn it over to undo the screws on the hard drive.
I don't think it's worth the risk of possible damage, so i just kept the supplied hdd which made by hitachi.There are no status lights on the revo for hd access or anything, but thats no too bad, & the good thing is the hd is silent.!
All in all a decent low energy 2nd PC.

Conclusion: Definitely worth the price

Why: I've been putting this machine through it's paces over the last five days and have to say I have been pleasantly surprised. At first I was a bit concerned about the rather weak processor. Sure, it's not going to load apps as fast as your Core 2 Quad, but then that's not what this machine is for. As a word processing, internet surfing, user friendly machine it's great.

Of course the best point is the graphics card. This machine is so much cheaper than a Mac Mini but runs just as well as a media centre. It has HDMI and can display full 1080p. I've attached a freeview stick and have also been watching TV on it.

My only gripes are first, you have to be check whether your monitor can take a vesa mount first and second, I wish they'd have used XP for now. Vista is a right pain. But that's just a personal opinion on the OS itself. I can live with it until Windows 7 :)

This has to be one of the best value PCs available today. OK the Atom CPU isn't the fastest but you don't need the fastest for everyday tasks (email, web, office) and its just fine for these, plus this one is great for video, even HD. It runs Windows Vista/7 with Aero no problem, also BBC iPlayer, Xvids, etc work fine and most games work ok too (although its by no means a gamer's machine). You can screw it to the back of a good sized monitor and make the cheapest All-in-One out there. Why buy a rubbish small-screened laptop for this money if you're just going to use it at home? Get one of these.

I'm very impressed with this machine. The first thing anyone needs to do once they have turned it on though is to remove all of the preinstalled apps that the machine comes with. There was all sorts of rubbish (McAffee, Acer Games Console, MyWinLocker included) processes running on startup that were clogging the system. After removing them all and installing Microsoft Security Essentials, you have a great machine that does everything you could ask of a low-powered home theatre pc like this. Put XBMC on it and away you go!

I have "dual booted" this with linux (ubuntu 9.04), I kept windows as I have 3 data logging programs which insist on using it.
Windows works ok, but linux is amazing - it boots quickly, runs quickly, and everything configured automatically - no searching for drivers!
the machine comes with a holder to allow it to be bolted to the back of your monitor (if you have the little screw holes!) everything is thus hidden away.
The keyboard is small, due to lack of numberpad, but is fine. it boots up with num lock on, which is very annoying as it does not have a number pad. easy to change in the bios.