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Acer announces AMD powered HTPC
The Aspire X1200
Acer has announced what looks like a real bargain for anyone looking at getting an HTPC but can't be asked to build their own. The Aspire X1200 is a compact system at 269x102x366mm (WxHxD) and the case wouldn't look entirely out of place in your front room.
Hardware wise you're looking at a couple of different options, but the choice is quite limited. The CPU is either an AMD Athlon X2 4850e or a 5200+, both fitted to what appears to be a DTX motherboard powered by Nvidia's Geforce 8200 chipset and the rest of the system consists of 4GB of DDR2 memory, a 320GB SATA hard drive, a super multi DVD writer and a 14-in-1 memory card reader.
Connectivity is quite well catered for with HDMI and D-sub display connectivity, four rear and five front USB 2.0 ports, front FireWire, eSATA, Gigabit Ethernet, 7.1-channel analog outputs, two PS/2 ports and for some reason a dial-up modem. There's one low-profile x16 and one x1 PCIe expansion slot available for add-ons such as a TV-tuner card etc.
Cost wise you're looking at US$449.99 (€286/£228) for the 4850e version and US$549.99 (€292/£233) for the 5200+ model. A version of the 4850e powered machine with a 22in LCD display is also available for $699.99 (€445/£355) with a larger 500GB hard drive. All models come with Windows Vista Premium 64-bit with SP1. Let's hope this models makes it to Europe with equally enticing pricing.
You can find the full press release here