Building your own computer is starting to come back in style thanks to initiatives like Phonebloks and Google's Project Ara, and now Acer is bringing that idea to the desktop. It's introducing a new PC today called the Revo Build Series, which starts as a small core block and can then be built upon by adding new bricks on top of it. Imagine having a vertical tower of Lego pieces, only with every piece you add, the tower gains a new ability.
Blocks include speakers, a projector, and a wireless charging dock
Acer calls these add-ons "blocks." It'll initially be offering blocks with a 500GB hard drive, a 1TB hard drive, a wireless charging dock, a speaker unit, a GPU, a projector, and a microphone. Additional blocks will be "rolled out gradually," but Acer doesn't say how often or what's coming next. It doesn't even say the price of these
A series of pins at the top and bottom of each part allows them to be stacked and connected together.
Initially, the only add-on part will be a 500GB or one terabyte portable hard drive.
But over the following months the firm plans to release:
- A Power Bank, that can be used to run the PC when it is not plugged in or charge compatible mobile phones
- An Audio Block, adding speakers and a microphone. The firm said this could also work as a portable music player when detached from the unit
- A Graphics Block, to improve the quality of video games and handling of other image-intensive processes
It said each of the blocks was designed to work independently or with other PCs.
The computer parts use pogo pins system to connect together.
"It's easy for users to add things as they need them, [it provides] flexibility and a sense of empowerment that they can build a system themselves," commented Intel's Kirk Skaugen, who was invited on stage for the launch.
IT will go on sale starting this October. It'll initially be available in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, with prices starting at €199; then in December, it'll arrive in China with prices beginning at $314.49. It's supposed to head to the US eventually, too. Acer seems to suggest that more powerful core blocks could arrive in the future, but this machine seems to be designed for emerging markets where an affordable and easily upgradable computer could take off.
There are no cables and the device automatically recognizes the components as they’re added. At launch, there’s a core block containing the processor and memory, an audio block, power block and storage block.
Acer says it’ll release updated add-ons for the device for new graphics cards, Wi-Fi standards and more.
It is really amazing because it is stackable and needs no wires
