Aspire X1200: a home theater-friendly mini PC from Acer

For those of you who demand excellence out of their home theaters, how many of you have considered installing a computer in it? I’m sure a few, but how many of you have been really impressed by anything out there? I’m sure just a small fraction. All to chance from today, as Acer unveiled earlier today its latest device for your HD displays. Enter Acer’s Aspire X1200, which for $450 includes on-board NVIDIA GeForce 8200 graphics, an AMD Athlon X2 2850e processor, and HDMI port. Acer promises full 7.1-channel audio support as well as the guts to work with H.264, VC1, and MPEG2 and the spunk to output 1080P. The whole shebang comes in a rack-friendly 10.6 x 4.0 x 14.4-inch enclosure. Of course, prices scale up to $699 based on your needs — the latter coming with a 22-inch display — but the base price will get you a 320GB SATA II drive and the start of what could be a sweet little home theater PC.