Taiwan’s Acer is breaking Android out of its comfort zone and has installed the operating system on a 21.5-inch all-in-one desktop PC that is expected on sale in the U.S. later this year.
A prototype version of the computer, called the Acer N3-220, was on show at this week’s Computex IT expo in Taipei.
The model was running Android 4.2.2, was based around a 1.6GHz Nvidia Tegra 3 processor, and sported full high-definition resolution of 1,920 pixels by 1,080 pixels. It had just 8 gigabytes of storage, but an Acer representative said that was likely because it was a demonstration version. Many of the specifications could change with the eventual production version.
The computer carried the brand name of Gateway, the U.S. company that is expected to put it on sale.
Using Android comes with at least one advantage: there’s no need to pay Microsoft licensing fees for Windows. The basic version of Android is free although an agreement with Google is required for the use of Google-specific applications such as YouTube, Gmail and Play Store.
It should be available in September or October, the Acer representative said. No pricing details were available.