Hands on with the Acer Revo Build modular PC #IFA

IFA 2018 is still a bit of a whirl in my memory. So much gadgety goodness. Thankfully I took many snaps and the ones that instantly leaped out at me was of a small form-factor PC from Acer -the Revo Build.

Perhaps amongst all of the smartwatches, VR headsets, laptops, tablets and other gear it was something a little different. Or maybe, just maybe, Acer are on to something.

Most off-the-shelf small form factor PCs are built in such a way that it’s difficult to upgrade them when the time comes.

Acer’s new Revo Build Series (M1-601) Mini stackable PC not only looks great but it all seems to make perfect sense.

The 125 x 125mm Revo Build comes with two main components, the main unit and the graphics, and then other modules can be introduced. Each module is magnetic, so you just stack them on top of each other to build up your ideal living room or casual PC.

They connect to one another without wires, just communicating through a series of pins on the top and bottom of each module.

The heart of the Acer Revo Build modular mini PC is an Intel Pentium or Intel Celeron Braswell processor with built-in graphics adapter, 8GB of memory, a solid-state drive and so on.

The base unit has a special set of pogo pins with magnetic alignment that lets you customise your computer without opening up the chassis.

You can add and remove the stackable Blocks easily which means you can change the purpose of this mini PC at a moment’s notice should you need to.

The main chassis boasts 3x USB 3.0 ports, an SD card reader, HDMI out, DisplayPort out, Audio Jack and an Ethernet port.

Some of the Blocks that can be added include a HDD Block, which can offer up to 3TB of storage, a wireless charging Block, a VGA Block, a DAC Block for audiophiles, an external graphics Block, an audio Block with two speakers and two microphones. There’s even going to be a Pico Projector Block.