Acer intros multimedia PC and high-def 24-inch LCD

Acer on Monday announced it will begin shipping the Aspire X3200 desktop PC optimized to work as a multimedia entertainment center along with a 24-inch Acer P244W widescreen LCD that is capable of displaying 1920x1080, 16:9 ratio images. To take advantage of the monitor's resolution, the X3200-U3630A PC includes a Blu-ray drive and NVIDIA's GeForce 8200 integrated graphics. The PC also sports a 2.1GHz AMD Phenom X3 CPU along with 4GB of RAM.

Staying true to its mission as an entertainment PC, the X3200 has support for Dolby Home Theater surround sound and 5.1 channels of audio. An HDMI port delivers the mutli-channel audio information along with high-definition video. Other connections include nine USB 2.0 ports, a FireWire connection, eSATA link and mulit-card reader. Onboard storage comes via a 640GB hard disk drive that is preloaded with Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit.

The Acer P244W LCD's specs include a maximum 75Hz refresh rate and 2ms gray-to-gray response time. The monitor connects to sources via two HDMI ports or a VGA input. It also features a 20,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio and 300cd/m2 brightness. Instead of traditional buttons, Acer uses touch-sensitive controls lit up with LEDs.

The Acer Aspire X3200-U3630A is now available, with a price of $680. The P244W LCD is likewise on sale, priced at $339.

Acer X-3200 PC