Desktop PCs, previously the king-pin of digital devices, are having a hard time of late. They're cumbersome compared to smartphones and tablets and expensive, thanks in no small part to Microsoft's licensing fees and hardware requirements.
It's no surprise, then, that some hardware manufacturers are looking for a more sellable PC without having to depend on Windows. And to do so, they're tuning to Android.
For example, Acer's latest PC, the DA220HQL, will be an all-in-one (AIO) PC model which eschews Microsoft's Windows operating system in favor of Google's Android platform.
The new PC is expected to retail for $400, well below the computer manufacturer's next lowest-priced AIO computer, which retails for $600. The low price of Acer's new offering is largely thanks to the cheaper hardware needed to run Android.
The computer will allow users to interact with it like most tablets, but with a more traditional PC arrangement.
It's also no secret that Acer as a whole has nothing but contempt for current Windows operating systems, with the computer manufacturer's president going so far as to say that there's no value in creating hardware for the current version of Windows RT, Microsoft's tablet OS offering.
And Acer isn't alone. HTC has recently announced the manufacturing giant will no longer build a complete line of tablets for Windows systems, according to The Los Angeles Times. Samsung, too, has said it will stop selling Windows RT tablets in Germany due to poor sales.
The question now is whether or not more PC manufacturers will follow Acer's lead to build cheaper, Android-ready desktop computers. As VentureBeat reports, many manufacturers have said in the past that they'd prefer to drop computers powered by Windows operating systems in favor of selling devices running on Android. Many of those devices never came to fruition.
The Acer DA220HQL, according to CNET, which broke the details of the computer's abilities, features a 21.5-inch multi-touch display with a 1,920x 1,080 display. The computer will also come with a Texas Instrument OMAP 4430 dual-core ARM Coretex-A9 processor, 1GB of RAM, 8GB ROM, a front-facing camera, Wi-Fi, Micro-HDMI, Micro USB 2.0, built-in speakers and a wireless keyboard and mouse. The device is expected to be formally announced sometime next week.
