Product Reviews

With the release of Windows Media Center, PCs are making a determined effort to take the place of the TV, video and stereo in the living room. But Microsoft isn't the only company plotting against these consumer electronics devices. Acer reckons it has the key that will spring your computer from the spare room: its RC500 PC comes with all the multimedia functions you'd expect of Windows Media Center, and you don't even have to power up Windows to use the audio ones.
Unlike many entertainment PCs, Acer has designed the Aspire RC500 with the lounge in mind. Its chassis is finished in stylish black and silver, and it bears a large and friendly jog dial on the front. There's also a blue LED display that indicates which part of the device you're using. And this is precisely where the RC500 is unique. It has split each Media Center-style function into a completely separate operation. While they may be in the same box, TV, radio, music and normal PC functions operate independently of each other.
While this sounds like a great idea, and avoids any kind of confusion or fuss, it's actually the Acer's main downfall. As each function is separate, each must be started separately, some of them independently of Windows. If you want to switch from using the PC functions to, say, the radio or music options, Windows XP has to shut down or hibernate before the RC500 can be switched to the appropriate screen. This means you spend time waiting to switch between functions - up to 30 seconds in some cases, which can become extremely frustrating. The software that controls the PC's radio and music functions isn't particularly impressive either, looking clunky and old-fashioned. It's not hard to use - but if you're spending this much, you'd expect something a little

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more snazzy.
As well as the individual control programs, the RC500 has a large, easy-to-use remote control. Unfortunately, its range is appalling. The RC500 had trouble receiving the signal when we were sitting just over two metres away. The receiving angles were poor, too - we had to sit almost head-on to the PC to get the remote to work. In fact, we had to keep getting up and moving around to get the remote into range, defeating the object of having a remote in the first place.
The speakers are disappointing, too. The cables connecting them are too short, there are no treble controls and they lack volume and bass.
Open the case and you'll see that the RC500's components are packed in tightly. In a larger case, this might still leave room for upgrades, but the slim Acer will be rather hard to upgrade. The graphics card and TV tuner cards are half the usual height, for starters. Cards like this are hard to come by, especially if you want a powerful model. Also, the memory sockets are tucked away under the DVD/CD-RW combo drive, which in turn is hidden from view by a black plastic flap. There's an impressive line-up at the front of the case, though. It includes a memory card reader that handles seven formats, as well as a floppy drive.
On the bright side, the RC500 comes with a 2.6GHz Pentium 4 processor and a chunky 512MB of 333MHz DDR RAM. It performs well, clocking in a respectable 1,057 in our benchmarks. The graphics card isn't the best around, scoring 5,586 in our 3DMark 2001 test, but it will still play most games perfectly well - and it's more than powerful enough for TV and DVD playback. With this kind of power, there's nothing to stop you using it as a normal PC that happens to have a TV tuner built in, using Windows Media Player and video recording software instead of Acer's own programs. But what's the point of that, when you've spent good money on a system with posh multimedia functions?
There's no monitor included with the RC500, as it's supposed to be plugged in to a TV set rather than a traditional PC monitor. It's at this point that you realise how expensive this PC really is. Granted, this is a good, compact computer with all the trimmings, but you could easily get the same components and remote for far less, albeit without the proprietary programs. As it is, the RC500 is too expensive.