Acer backs Blu-ray

HD media centre PC launched to prove it

By Tony Smith in Berlin • Get more from this author

31st August 2007 09:00 GMT

IFA 07 Acer has thrown its weight behind the Blue-ray Disc to become the fifth big-name computer maker to back the next-gen optical disc format. It's launched a BD-equipped media centre PC to affirm its intentions.

Acer Aspire iDea 520
Acer's iDea 520: Blu-ray on board

Acer's plan to acquire Gateway will catapult the joint company into the top tier of PC manufacturers alongside HP and Dell. Dell has always supported Blu-ray, and while HP has been notably pro HD DVD of late, it was nonetheless an early supporter of BD.

To that list we can add Apple and Lenovo, both of whom have pledged themselves to the Blu-ray cause. As has Sony, of course - it's the only PC maker yet to equip its machines with BD drives to any great extent.

Acer Aspire iDea 520
Acer's iDea 520: all mod cons

At the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin today, Acer announced the Aspire iDea 520, a media centre system with a slot-load Blu-ray Disc drive. The machine is based on a 1.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5500 and packs in 2GB of DDR 2 memory, a 500GB hard drive, an AMD ATI 'M76M' graphics chip with 512MB of video memory, Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, and a digital/analogue TV tuner.

The iDea 520 is due to go on sale in Europe in October for €1999.