Acer RL70-UR308 Desktop (Black)

• AMD Processor E-450 (1.65GHz, 1MB L2 Cache)
• 2GB DDR3
• 500 GB SATA Hard Drive
• Windows 8

If you are into home media systems this is a great idea. Add 2gb of 204-pin, DDR3, PC3-10600 memory (about $15) and you will have a fantastic system. Even though this is a "desktop" computer, it uses lap-top memory. Before I got it, I did a lot of research just to confirm what kind of memory it takes. It was the 204-pin part that was hard to confirm, but once you get it, it's fairly easy to install.

It comes with a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard which work great for me from 10' away. Add a good media player, sit-back and enjoy. I am using XBMC but Media Monkey and WMP are okay too. I just got this yesterday evening and have spent most of the day getting it set-up and loaded with all my MP3s. So far I'm thrilled.

Windows 8 is a bit of an adjustment. It has a really different look and feel, but seems to be a lot like windows 7 under the hood. I'll update this if anything of note comes up.

12/20 update: Forgot to mention that documentation is minimal and quite poor, though not really necessary. I found some assistance on the web/youtube regarding the memory upgrade. There is one screw to remove which holds the case together,and you'll want to use a plastic credit card to pry the case apart. It snaps back together easily and you replace the screw. (may have warranty issue if you open the case). Also, since there is no cd, you'll need an external cd drive to make a windows recovery cd.

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I bought this to replace my old Acer Aspire R1600 mini desktop. It still works great, but I wanted to upgrade to a Windows 8. Setting up the computer was fairly routine, the Windows 8 OS required a learning curve but was doable. The machine lost the monitor image briefly a couple of times, forcing me to start over again from the start window. This gave me concern, but for the most part it worked ok. Then it lost the monitor image completely. The monitor was saying it was not receiving a signal. Meanwhile the computer was on and making a sound like the HDD was going full speed. I used my other computer to access Acer online tech support and they wanted me to pay $38.00 to answer my question about the problem I was having. I decided to call Tech support instead and quickly got help. I was told to unhook everything from the computer, then rehook all my connections. After pressing on the start button, the computer started up and worked well for about a day. The last time I started the computer it froze up at Acer logo screen. I called Acer support. Tried a few things with no help. I was told to insert a recovery disc. My bad, I did not make one yet. It prompted me to use a flash card, I did not have one handy. They did not have a Windows 8 recovery disk in stock, I will have to call back in two days and then I can order one for $19.95 plus tax. I will update my report after I get my disk.

UPDATE: Acer support sent me the recovery dics. I hooked up the REVO to begin the installation. It booted up fine when I turned it on. The computer rebooted itself once while I was browsing on the internet. It had previously done this twice before when I had just received it and as before, it made a beeping sound just prior to rebooting itself. Still tentative about purchasing the computer but in all fairness, Acer support has been very helpful.

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This desktop is awesome, amazing design and good size for a desktop.

I bought this PC for media center purposes, connected to a hometheater and a 1080p TV.

Unfortunatly this specific model doesn't have enough cpu power to play encoded videos like 1080p mp4 or mkvs. Even 720p with DTS sound sometimes flickers or pauses for a second or two.

I upgraded the memory to 6Gb and it still coundn't play 1080p videos, even after I uninstalled the mcafee antivirus and norton firewalls...

I could not play 5.1 sound through the HDMI either, but as it has a optical output, that was not an issue.

UPDATE: tweaking the codecs I was able to enable hardware acceleration to the GPU and now I can watch 1080p movies at 30% CPU. One more star.

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I don't really like the windows 8 environment but over all it is a good and sleek looking machine. I have it on top of my entertainment center and connected to my TV and I use it to watch HULU and Netflix

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Overall very good design, I knew that 2Gb was not going to be enough, I did some research before I bought it and got to know that I can install up to 8Gb RAM even though it does not say it supports it. I have it up and running after instaslling the 8GB RAM. Very Nice, perfect for entertainment center.