Customer Reviews

Acer AspireRevo AR3610-U2002 Desktop (Dark Blue)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The AR3610-U2002 comes with a 250GB drive...not a 160 as it says in the specifications above. The U9022 comes with the 160GB drive. Not sure why anyone would be ordering that one as the U2002 is identical, but with a larger drive and is going for less money...on amazon anyway. Only other mistake on this page is the keyboard/mouse I received with the unit were black..not white as displayed in the image.

Likes
*Plays 1080p flawlessly
*Comes with stand and tv vesa mount. Tried tv mount but unit became quite hot from the heat from rear of the tv.
*wireless keyboard/mouse are actually quite nice, chiclet style keys are great.
*Wireless N built in
*Unit is pretty much silent and runs extremely cool.

Dislikes
*No external wifi antenna
*Bloatware (took me about an hour to remove it all)
*2GB or RAM comes as 2 x 1GB. So upgrading to 4GB involves buying 2 x 2GB.

I'd been wanting a HTPC for a while but my interest had never been enough to justify planning out an optimum build and putting the system together. Then one of the major HTPC forum communities I lurked in started to get really excited over this system, and after some hemming and feet dragging I decided to go ahead and give it a try. It's been totally worth it, but make no mistake that you're going to be spending some time and frustration to get everything perfect. You won't be plugging it in and getting right to your media library by any stretch of the imagination.

I've been using it for close to three months now solely with XBMC running on top of a minimal install of Ubuntu. The system comes pre-loaded with Windows 7, but don't get attached to the idea that you'll be running Windows Media Center on top of Windows 7 and getting perfect HD performance. The system just isn't powerful enough for that, even if you break the warranty and increase the RAM to 4 gigs as I've done. I did try out using Media Player Classic with graphic acceleration in Win7 and got some decent results, but honestly? If all you want is something that barebones there are far cheaper alternatives that are much closer to plug and play. Western Digital has a few media drives/players that may be exactly what you're looking for. It ain't pretty, but it gets the job done. This system, though, starts to shine once you show some patience and get over whatever aversions to Linux/Ubuntu you may have. It can be intimidating if all you've ever used are Windows systems, but it's well worth the effort. Where Win7 lagged just to bring up the uninstaller for the pre-packaged software (more on that later), Ubuntu was downright snappy. If you want the customization/looks of XBMC or it's equivalents but are determined to use Windows, this is not the system for you. You'll be much happier building one from scratch.

With that said, here's what I did as soon as I got the system:

1. Uninstalled all of the pre-installed gunk from Win7. From McAfee to Acer software, the drive is filled with worthless junk that drags the system performance down. Not to mention the HDD space.
2. Gave Win7 a try with MPC and XBMC. Wasn't impressed.
3. Partitioned the drive and installed minimal Ubuntu. Menus were still a little slow due to the stock RAM, but I wasn't willing to breach the warranty until I was sure I was keeping it.
4. Set myself up with a guide for tweaking XBMC specifically on a Revo, and went to town. XBMC's own forums has a ton of guides and users that are happy to offer help and suggestions, don't be intimidated by this!
5. After getting XBMC set up and being pleased with how everything was working, went ahead and yanked the case apart and added the additional RAM. Also noted the dinky wifi included.
6. Grabbed a USB wifi adapter, remote, and enjoyed HTPC nirvana. Mostly.

Make no mistake, Nvidia's ION is what makes this system and it is truly a beast. I've yet to find a piece of media in my library that it doesn't play without a hitch, including my self-made Bluray rips streaming over my network from my main PC. We're talking high bitrate 24 gig rips. The system is also dead silent and fits behind my tv perfectly (on that note, be absolutely sure that your HD TV has options for either full pixel, 1:1 pixel mapping, etc...it'd be a bummer if you got this far only to have the sides cut off!). It's also surprisingly portable with some preparation. I loaded a USB drive with some of my media and brought it and the Revo with me instead of lugging around a bunch of discs for movie night at a friend's. It worked beautifully.

The biggest problem is that the Revo will choke on anything that isn't hardware accelerated, which can make the big streaming sites less than appealing. Getting Flash to work properly can still be a trial due to Adobe dragging it's feet on a Linux release, but it's possible. There's still menu lag in XBMC as well; if you have any experience with the software and some of the flashier fanart themes you'll understand why. The included HDD is pretty pitiful speed wise; a USB 2.0 drive will give better performance and streaming or an external SATA drive will destroy it. The included wifi can be a little flakey and even when it works it's not exactly the speediest, do yourself a favor and grab a USB adapter if you're planning to stream over a network.

As pleased as I am with this system, I can't help but view it as a first step. I fully expect to build a bigger, badder HTPC soon enough and retire the Revo to the bedroom/portable use. Despite the flaws this system is great, the CPU is really the only thing holding it back from being near perfect.

Everything the previous reviewer (4point2) said was spot on and is the reason I purchased this exact model. Amazon's pricing is kinda screwed up, so buy THIS model (the U2002), NOT the one with more reviews (U9022).

I do feel the need to add my own more unique wireless issue and experience.

I got this unit setup and was immediately experiencing very strange connection issues on my G network. I was able to get an external adapter to work just fine, and I tried all the different drivers available from Acer, upgraded BIOS and nvidia chipset, and even upgraded the firmware on my router but still experienced dropped connections and horrible/non-existent browsing capabilities.

Pretty much gave up and returned the Revo for another one only to discover it wasn't a 'faulty' network adapter as it was having the same issues.

Searched high and low and found a post about using a different channel on the router so I switched my router from Auto to 11 (didn't work), 10 (didn't work) but finally channel 9 did the trick!

Going to go through the other channels and run through some speed tests to see if any are faster, but just wanted to point this out as I couldn't find this addressed anywhere else on the web.

Overall I highly recommended this unit, and as always Amazon customer service was top-notch.

Wanted a HTPC for my Mitsubishi 73" DLP. Thought I had researched enough to ensure that the Acer Revo 3610 would meet my needs, and it almost does.
The GOOD...
Very small and noiseless package that fits nicely on a small shelf.
Optical and HDMI outputs
Remote Mouse and Keyboard work great
Very low power draw < 30 watts
The Bad
CPU is not able to render 1080P or 1080I for NETFLIX without stuttering
CPU is not able to render 1080P or 1080I for HULU without Smearing
You lose 1 768 Megs for Ram if you upgrade to 4gb (Reports 3.0 or 3.1/4) depending on Video allocations in bios

Netflix uses Silverlight which does not use the Nvidia GPU for graphic rendering.
HULU is better the netflix but not as smooth as my Desktop (Dual Core @2.6ghz)

I am hopeful that Acer, Microsoft and/or Nvidia will update their drivers to resolve he issues.

I bought this specifically to use as an HTPC for my new HDTV and I could scarcely be more pleased.

I use it with XBMC on the pre-installed Windows 7 Home Premium installation, and as another reviewer notes correctly, the current /stable/ version of XBMC (version 9.11) does not support hardware accelerated video rendering, meaning that with the relatively weak Atom processor(s), rendering full 1080p Bluray rips is out of the question; there's just not enough horsepower. The very powerful graphics adapter sits there unused.

HOWEVER! With the latest (currently beta) version of XBMC, called Dharma (version 10.0), graphics hardware accelerated rendering is now supported on Windows! With acceleration enabled I can easily play full 24 GB Bluray rips (that is to say, full, un-transcoded streams) without any stuttering or frame loss. Needless to say, every other video plays perfectly as well.

MLB.tv runs full screen perfectly with Flash 10.1. I haven't tried much other full screen flash video; 720p Youtube videos run well full screen from what I have seen from the little I have tried them.

The included wireless mouse and keyboard have come in more handy than I had anticipated. Neither is anything to get excited over, but they each do their jobs adequately.

I knocked a star off because I had to take about an hour and a half to uninstall all the crapware that comes on this computer. Very annoying.

Ion 2 devices are coming out now and will probably be faster, but given that this computer handles perfectly the most strenuous activity I will likely ever put it through, I'm extremely pleased.

There was only one review for this product when I purchased it (which was helpful). I was looking for a small computer to hook up to my HDTV for watching streaming video (Netflix, Hulu, YouTube) and it is almost exactly what I was looking for. The small size fits perfectly in my TV credenza. I also like the wireless keyboard and mouse. The chicklet keyboard takes a little getting used to but it's size is great as I can keep it on the second tier of my coffee table.

I did have an issue with the wireless. It would not maintain a connection with my wireless network. I eventually hooked it up with a hardline to my internet and it works fine. I would have tried what another reviewer has since recomended (switching channels - that had not occured to me) but it works fine the way I have it set up now.

Like another previous reviewer, the other minor complaint I have is that the headphone jack is in the front, which forces you to run the connection through the front to a receiver if you want to use one. It's a little unsightly but I do like having the computer hooked up to my sound system.

I would recommend this computer to others looking to use it in the same manner as I am using it.

Bought the Acer AspireRevo to replace an old laptop as the media center in our living room. The laptop was never able to play anything beyond standard definition, so it needed to go since we bought a Full HD LCD TV. The Revo came with Windows 7 installed and after uninstalling the many useless bloatware that also came installed and installing XBMC, it was up and running playing HD content smoothly through the HDMI output. You just have to remember to download the nightly build of XBMC as, until today at least, the stable version does not use the Ion GPU (and thus is unable ty play HD content).

I just won't give it 5 stars because of the gigantic number of bloatware that came installed. Even now, every week my movies are interrupted by an annoying window asking to register Revo. I'm sure there is a way to uninstall whatever is showing this, just didn't get to that yet.

If you're not planning to use Windows Media Center dvr or live-TV functions or you're not planning to use hdmi audio then you should consult another review for opinions. If this is your plan then read on.

My main goals for this purchase were to be able to stream Hulu, Amazon-on-demand and use the WMC DVR function with the TV in my family room. I also wanted to provide another common area computer for my kids to be able to browse the web and do school work.

The price tag, low power usage, expected ION performance, wireless kb/mouse, 250GB HD, monitor mount and eSATA were big draws. But a big reason I chose to buy this particular nettop was the fact that it came with Win7 installed and not barebones. I didn't want to have to spend a lot of time fixing problems and installing/uninstalling 3rd party software.

Like other reviewers I've had to uninstall a lot of the junk software from the computer. I briefly tried the wireless networking, but quickly went to a wired network connection.

I had a significant problem with the hdmi. If I selected hdmi audio for the default sound device then playback of live TV or recorded TV in WMC or WMP didn't work. The recorded playback problem would happen with wtv files recorded on this nettop as well as dvr-ms files I had recorded in WMC on a Vista PC. When playback began a few frames would play and then the screen would go dark. After the screen went dark WMP reported "Windows Media player encountered a problem while playing this file". WMC reported - "Video Error Files needed to display video are not installed or are not working correctly. Restart Windows Media Center or restart the computer."

I tried restarting WMC, rebooting - no improvement. If I selected speakers or realtek audio for default sound, the problems went away.

I did some internet searches and found that there are a lot of general problems w/ hdmi audio. I tried many of the solutions people offered (disconnecting/reconnecting hdmi, changing sound in WMC to 2ch/5.1/7.1ch, disabling transition sounds in WMC, etc), but none worked. I checked the hdmi audio driver Acer had posted and it was up to date. I ran out of patience and went to Acer & then NVIDIA support - neither was very helpful.

I opened a ticket with Acer support. Acer's first response was to try updating the VGA driver. I went to Acer's website and downloaded the "VGA driver" posted for the Aspire R3610. It didn't make sense to me at the time that this might fix the problem. But note that this is the display driver for ION, not VGA specific, so it makes some sense since it is related to the hdmi. The driver version Acer had posted for the R3610 was the wrong OS version - it is for 32bit, not 64bit. I tried downloading the 64bit version of the same driver from NVIDIA's website, but when I went to install it failed with the error "could not locate drivers compatible with your hardware". I tried updating the display adapter driver using windows device manager. I was successful updating the driver this way and the problems went away temporarily. The version was 8.17.12.5896. This worked just until the first time the computer went into sleep state. Then no matter what I did I couldn't get it to work again. It was basically back in the same state as before the display driver update. I opened several more tickets with Acer - each time they would provide a "solution" and each time they would immediately close the support ticket without confirming their "solution" worked and each time it didn't work. Eventually Acer wanted me to use their "pay-for-support" service. That's when I gave up on Acer support.

I also went back and forth with NVIDIA support. They were a little better than Acer support - at least they wouldn't continually close the ticket before the problem was solved. NVIDIA asked some more intelligent questions and eventually suggested I install AC3FILTER to debug the problem and then promptly closed the ticket. I gave up on NVIDIA at that point.

I also tried a few windows-based alternatives to the Microsoft players. Neither VLC or PowerDVD specifically list support for the Windows DVR files, but I was able get them both to playback the recordings. However playback wasn't smooth - (yes, even with hardware acceleration enabled.)

Eventually I updated every one of the NVIDIA drivers using the latest from the NVIDIA website, and still the problem persisted.

After many hours trying different solutions and searching the web for an answer - I found one that worked for me. A user posted on greenbutton that he was able to fix the problem by going back to version 8.17.11.9621 of the NVIDIA display driver (to find these drivers Google "NVIDIA ION drivers 196.21"). I tried installing this and so far it is working. Now the revo performs pretty much as I had hoped. This has taken a lot more time investment than I bargained for. I am taking off 2 stars due to the software issues and poor support from Acer and NVIDIA (I have no complaints about the hardware, but note that others have reported issues with the wireless). I hope this review helps others to avoid repeating my experience.

I'm not sure if it's the instability of Windows 7. My experience with Windows XP has been a very stable OS. I'm thinking it's the inadequacy of the processor. I only use this computer mostly for browsing and watching movies. If you do those two tasks at once this computer would freeze and sometimes unfreeze by itself after about 30 seconds, sometimes I'm unlucky and it crashes so I have to restart the computer. Also, whenever I leave the computer on overnight, the next morning 8 out of 10 times the system would also freeze and I have to restart the computer. I then upgraded the memory from 2GB to 4GB thinking the memory is inadequate, but then the problem persist.

I use this as my Home Theater PC. Between this and my antenna, I have no need for cable TV, which saves me about $70 a month. As long as you make sure you are on Flash 10.1 (this is important!), this will play any video up to 1080p without issue. If you combine it with Boxee, you have a really great home theater PC.

I have one issue, and that is with the sound. Sometimes the sound just goes away and the only way I have found to get it back is to restart the machine. I thought it might be a Windows 7 issue, but I have a new desktop with Windows 7 and have not had any sound problems with it. Aside from that little quirk, this little machine is great. It definitely does a good job of saving me money on my cable bill.