Acer $400 ‘PC’ will run Android, pack Intel's Haswell chip
Acer is about to announce a PC that runs Android, showing that Windows and PC will not necessarily be synonymous in the coming months. — The Acer DA220HQL AIO will be priced just above $400 at most resellers.
Context & Ripple Effects
Acer's last big consumer-computing reveal put Google's OS on NVIDIA silicon — the $450 Iconia Tab A700 shipped Tegra 3 under a high-res screen in June 2012. The DA220HQL flips both halves of that equation: Android moves into an all-in-one 'PC' chassis, and the silicon becomes Intel's Haswell.
For Intel this lands mid-campaign to break out of its phone-era rut: the company has conceded the iPhone battle, installed ex-Apple/Palm executive Mike Bell over a new devices unit, and just days ago confirmed Clover Trail Atom silicon in Samsung's next Galaxy Tab 3 — its biggest mobile win to date. The story traveled widely, picked up by outlets including the LA Times, VentureBeat, Engadget and PC World within days.
First-order effects
- Acer puts a sub-$450 price tag on an Android all-in-one, selling buyers a desktop-form-factor machine with no Windows license in the box.
- Intel banks a second x86 Android design win inside a month — the Clover Trail-powered Galaxy Tab 3 in tablets, now Haswell in a desktop — directly serving Mike Bell's new devices group.
Second-order effects
- NVIDIA loses the marquee slot it held in Acer's lineup via the Tegra 3-based A700, as Acer's Android portfolio shifts toward Intel parts.
- Microsoft faces more OEM hedging at exactly the moment Windows 8 needs PC-maker commitment: partners like Acer now treat Android as a viable OS for traditional PC categories.
Third-order effects
- If Android keeps spreading onto desktop silicon, the historical pairing of 'PC equals Windows' loosens into a menu of OS-per-chassis options — and security researchers' warning that Android malware is starting to resemble the Windows desktop threat model gains a whole new class of always-connected home machines to target.
The trend: PC hardware is decoupling from Windows as Intel pushes x86 into Android across every form factor, letting OEMs like Acer re-price the desktop without a Windows license.