Hardware ASRock Vision 3D 137B Review

For those who want the quality of a Mac Mini, but don't like the taste of Apple.

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/pcs/2010/10/07/asrock-vision-3d-mini-pc-135b-review/1

 

This is heading in the right direction when speaking of office/media-PCs.

Now bring down the costs of the components - and there's actually no specific reason for why a i3 xxxM should cost nearly twice the amount of the standard i3 xxx, other then marketing - and we all can be happy with a little and still powerful box resting under our 40+" walls in the living-room.

 

If I could justify spending that much, it would be under my TV as we speak!

 

This little system looks very nice but I have one major critism, the inability to use an internal TV tuner. Quite frankly this is a daft ommission in a system that would generally be used as a HTPC.

Other than that (and the cost) it would make a sweet HTPC + mild gaming system.

 

I think you would have to be deluded to buy that. Well over twice the price of a PS3 and with no additional functionality in terms of media support.

The latest update of the PS3 firmware gives it blu-ray 3D support.

 

ooo that's a bloody good point, however i would prefer my NAS server to do the TV duties because generally record several channels at once for later playback.

Good point, but i dislike the PS3 as I just don't game that much and having a console seems such a waste in that respect.

 

Nice review for a nice piece of kit.

It is expensive, but, unlike most expensive things where I tend to just whinge and moan about it, I can actually appreciate where a chunk of that money goes in this so I don't feel too bad about it. I also think it offers quite a bit more than a PS3 myself, (not least the vastly improved aesthetics) so a don't think a direct price comparison is really fair.

I do agree with xaser04 though: What is essentially an advanced HTPC should really have a TV tuner.

One other thing that worries me slightly are the high temps - how much effect would this have on the lifespan of the thing if used heavily?

 

"the fan was now a much quieter as it span at 2,300rpm." the word you are looking for is spun. Span refers to length such as a wingspan or the span of a persons hand or the span of a bridge. I wouldn't have said anything but I've seen it at least two other times on here and damn it, I need my bit-tech news grammatically correct! Your the only tech site I frequent that actually does a good job with grammar.

 

Also, slightly off topic perhaps, but I like your media benchmark numbers put up, (so I can directly compare it to what I already have) - would you guys be able to do that for your PC Hardware Buyer's Guides, or has half the kit gone back by the time you decide what goes into what PC?

I know we all read the reviews and should know roughly what each individual component does by itself - but I'd love to see a direct, easy to visualise comparison between all the systems if it's possible...

 

Can you please explain why this PC, with a Core i3 CPU and 4GB of RAM, scores lower on multitasking than a PC with an old Core 2 Duo and 2GB of RAM? Surely it should be much faster.

 

My parents PS3 has never had a game in it. Even with the gaming element completely ignored, its still the best 'media centre' for the money

 

You're...

 

Since when was the Mac Mini inside Apple's "walled garden?" Keep in mind that you can get a decent second hand Mac Mini for about half the price of this thing, this ASRock thing starts to look awfully bad value if you're looking for something to drop into an existing setup to play digital media on. Mac Mini + XBMC = Who cares what the OS or GFX chip are?

 

No additional functionality? It has more than the PS3: for starters you can use any x86 compatible OS you want.

My point was that some stuff has to be re-encoded for the PS3 where the ASRock will play anything with VLC (as just one example). Plus you don't have to buy the remote control as an extra. The point of the ASRock is that it's not just a HTPC: when was the list time you could install a torrent client on a PS3, for example? Or two hard drives? Sony is only locking down their device as they progress, instead of opening it up, and a simple media player like the ACRyan PlayON! can do simple media playback as well. The ASRock box offers versatility in a market of does-one-thing.

StoneyMahoney - we never compare a product to the second hand market, and again, a Mac mini+XMBC is expensive versus a WD Live or ACRyan box. The improved graphics means you can actually game on it, which some people enjoy.

 

By this do you mean your NAS (I assume you mean a PC in this case that acts as a NAS) records TV using it's built in tuner which you can then access over the network?

This sounds very interesting and I would like to know more

 

I'm just gonna assume you mean air there.

 

The reviewer loves it when Harry grows his hair long.

 

Well I don't wish to be the 'PS3 Fanboy' but I feel I should fight the corner now, especially as my media orientated pc has been gathering dust since I got my PS3 a couple of years ago.

Yes, but given the price of this device and the target market I would guess that less than 1% would consider changing the OS and the other 99% wouldn't even realise it was possible, let alone know what options were available

I haven't suffered any problems playing anything yet and looking at the list of accepted file types I don't envisage any future problems. The PS3 controller meets the criteria of a 'remote' and, the normal controller and the 'dvd remote', I can confirm that due to the way the system is designed it is easier to operate with the normal controller.

Presumably a torrent client could be installed under linux on the old ps3? If so then it could be done anytime on an old ps3 which hasn't been updated (the update preventing the installation of linux was not mandatory). Besides that there is such a dearth of legal media content available by torrent that it would be a pointless feature anyway.

I realise that the ASRock is more than just an htpc but thats really its problem; its doing too much. For £640 you could get a far better all round pc, or even a ps3 and a core i3 laptop. The ACRyan and such like are okay but when you factor in that you will (probably) still want an optical player and you need some sort of NAS, the price escalates



TLR -meh.

 

The Asrock ION 330HT-BD costs 350 Euro, can play Bluray HD-content and adds some versatility like torrent, internet surfing etc. Even some older games are playable just fine with it.

The PS3 250GB costs 350 Euro, can play Bluray HD-content and adds the versatility of internet surfing, runs the newest games in full HD-resolution, but lacks stuff like an office-suite.

The ASRock Vision 3D 137B costs approx 900 Euro and it's capable of replacing a mediochre 500$ desktop.

So where does the ASRock Vision 3D 137B exactly fit in?

It's a higher powered version of the The Asrock ION 330HT-BD, for those people, who don't do anything else then office-tasks and some casual gaming (flash-games, The Sims, etc). Those can replace their bigger desktops with a small unnoticable box, that has 2 years of warranty and customer support.

We people here on bit-tech might not be the customers for stuff like that, but I know plenty of friends, collegues and family-members, who'd buy this type of PC instantly, if it would be offered in stores with a little bit of marketing.

EDIT: And then there's stuff like this around aswell, for those who are into fancy gadgets in thei rliving-room -> Aspire Revo RL100. The Bluray-version is listed for 599 Euro in online-stores now.

 

Damn you beat me to it!

And surely Scootiep meant doesn't do a good job with grammar as the bit-tech English skills are appalling!