Acer Revo 3600 Budget NetTop Computer ReviewReview of the Acer Revo 3600 computer, a mini, scaled down computer running Intel Atom processor which is decent enough for basic tasks.
The Acer Revo 3600 is a compact Nettop PC from Acer sporting an Intel Atom N230 1.6 GHz with 2 GB RAM and 160 GB HDD. Although not the highest-spec nettop on the market, you can't beat the performance for the value of this gem.
Having seen one of these on the Gadget Show, I thought this would make an ideal media centre PC for the bedroom - a small compact PC which I can use to listen to music, watch DVDs and occasionally surf the web; however, shortly after I purchased the Acer, my desktop PC decided to blow up the power supply. Instead of replacing it, I decided to see what this little nettop PC could do. Can it replace my desktop?
The device is very compact with a black-and-white glass finish. It has enough USB ports (6), a VGA connector (but no DVI), eSATA connectors, HDMI out, Gigabit LAN, wireless LAN, card reader and headphones/mic. I could plug in all my peripherals apart from my keyboard as it is PS2. The Revo comes with its keyboard and mouse, but I found the keyboard was too small and cramped, and the mouse was small and light.
Out of the box, the Revo can use a desktop stand which clips onto the base, or you can attach it to the back of an LCD monitor using the VESA mounting points.
I purchased the cheaper Linux version of Revo, which boots into Acers' own RevoBoot software. From the menu, you can select from a list of tasks, and it goes away and loads the application. I could get on the internet within 2 minutes of turning it on for the first time.
However, the bundled Linux software is very limited, so I soon wiped the hard drive and installed Windows 7 Ultimate. Windows installer had no problems detecting and installing drivers for all Revo's hardware, and Windows Aero runs smoothly and quickly. Despite only being a single-core processor, the hyperthreading simulates dual-core like my desktop PC. Windows loads quickly from the 160GB hard drive, and once all my software has been installed, it's just like using my old desktop. The performance only became an issue while browsing the net, watching a DVD and processing a large Apache log file. This stressed the little 1.6 GHz processor, so if you are doing anything processor-intensive, you may consider the more expensive dual-core 3610 model. Besides that, this is a great piece of kit for the money! I will continue to use it as a daily replacement for my desktop until I have the money to buy a new desktop PC, and then it's going in the bedroom as originally planned.
