Hasta La Gadget!

Ah, hello again! It seems like just yesterday that we were talking up Acer‘s latest Aspire Revo — a ‘3600‘ model equipped with a dual-core Atom 330 and NVIDIA’s Ion graphics system. Nearly a year to the day, we’re now faced with the company’s latest and greatest subcompact, the Aspire Revo 3700. As far as evolutionary advancements go, this one’s fairly predictable — within the one-liter box is a 1.8GHz Atom D525 dual-core processor, NVIDIA’s next-generation Ion platform, support for 1080p video playback, a 500GB hard drive, four USB 2.0 ports, 4GB of DDR3 memory, VGA / HDMI outputs, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, gigabit Ethernet and a mini PCIe slot. It’s expected to ship later this year with a $580 price tag, but it’s still a TV tuner shy of being exactly what our living room asked for.

Continue reading Acer introduces Atom D525-equipped Aspire Revo 3700, your den swoons

Acer introduces Atom D525-equipped Aspire Revo 3700, your den swoons originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Sep 2010 11:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple’s newest Mac mini is a distinct and welcome departure from the comparatively bulky white Mac mini of yesteryear, and while we appreciate the unibody construction, inbuilt SD card reader and HDMI port, asking $700 and up for a headless PC without tons of oomph is still asking a lot. We’re curious to know if your new Mac mini has been treating you well (as an HTPC or otherwise), and moreover, we want to know how you’d change things even further if given the key to Cupertino’s design labs. Would you have added a Blu-ray option? Maybe an OTA TV tuner? Thrown any other ports on the rear? Beefed up the GPU a little? Trimmed things down for a cheaper entry-level model? Go on and vent in comments below — hugs are free and limitless.

How would you change Apple’s HDMI-equipped Mac mini? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Aug 2010 23:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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After being announced in early June, Anandtech recently put the Western Digital WD TV Live Plus through its paces and discovered the Netflix enhancement works as advertised. Like many Netflix-enabled devices though, the TV Live comes up short compared to the full PC experience since access is limited to only the Instant Queue. Its presence also sacrifices firmware hackability — a quality which previously made up for the WD TV Live’s lack of versatility as an HTPC. The ability to move, copy, and manage locally stored media files via the interface, on the other hand, was praised as a unique advantage over competing models — exciting, we know. Sadly, video quality was docked as being “significantly less than the HTPC counterparts they’ve seen so far.” However, it’s possible this could be improved in the future via firmware updates, since its Sigma Designs processor features noise reduction and deinterlacing algorithms that strangely aren’t currently enabled. File format-wise, DVD ISOs worked flawlessly, while Blu-ray ISO and some WMV video formats experienced issues that users may want to read up on before buying. Gripes aside though, Anandtech was still willing to place it “around the top of the list” for media player devices, thanks to its wide file compatibility and robust features. For more details, hit the review source link.

WD TV Live Plus gets reviewed, lauded for value originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Jul 2010 11:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Yeah, it’s true — Okoro Media Systems is shamelessly hopping on the tablet PC bandwagon, and it’s actually bundling an iPad with each GX series HTPC in order to give customers an elegant way to control their multi-zone audio setup (or whatever else you feel like controlling). ‘Course, the GX line ain’t the cheapest on the block, with starting prices just south of five large. That said, if you’re looking for the most bodacious HTPC on the planet and you can’t find the time to build your own, you can look forward to a Core i7 processor, upwards of 6GB of RAM, an 80GB SSD boot drive (paired with a 2TB 6Gbps media HDD), Blu-ray support, USB 3.0 ports and a quad CableCARD tuner. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Tap that source link if you’re interested in customizing your own, but only if you’re kosher with never leaving your home again in order to finance it.

Continue reading Okoro’s GX series HTPCs ship with SSD, USB 3.0, Core i7 and… an iPad?

Okoro’s GX series HTPCs ship with SSD, USB 3.0, Core i7 and… an iPad? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Jul 2010 07:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tablet control for HTPCs is nothing new to VidaBox, but with users quickly buying up tablets of their own it’s switched focus from the proprietary vPad and $2,600 TouchClient to wider compatibility through web apps. This iPad control interface demonstrated at the Asian Pacific CEDIA Expo, lets users browse and control their Media Center PC’s videos and music with cover art and related information right in the palm of their hands. Built on the company’s vAutomation 2.0 platform the software can control other connected devices including lights and cable boxes, while integration with online sources like Rhapsody and Pandora is also in the works. The iPad version is scheduled to make it to dealers and integrators in Q3 and its web based roots should make Android or other platform support a snap, though you will need to own one of the company’s systems to take advantage.

Continue reading VidaBox adds tablet control for its Media Center PCs, iPad is first in line

VidaBox adds tablet control for its Media Center PCs, iPad is first in line originally appeared on Engadget HD on Thu, 24 Jun 2010 19:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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