Have you ever considered using Android as your desktop OS? According to CNET, Acer wants you to, as it plans to announce a new all-in-one PC that forgoes Microsoft's OS for Google's free offering. The Acer AIO is said to pack a fourth generation Intel Core i5 chip – which is based on the Haswell architecture – so the unit should be pretty powerful and snappy.

The real allure to this new offering, however, isn't what's under the hood – it's the price. Acer is shooting for a $400-ish price range, making this one affordable PC. Unfortunately, a price that low also leads to tradeoffs in the hardware department – the AIO is expected to ship with a meager 1GB of RAM and as little as 8GB of internal storage, which simply isn't enough for the majority of users.

If the internal storage is bumped up to at least 32GB, however, this unit could potentially make a decent web browsing/time killing station for someone who doesn't require a lot from their PC. Android actually translates fairly well to the larger screen of a desktop, though something like ASUS' Transformer AiO is, in my opinion, a much more well-rounded, versatile solution for anyone who wishes to run Android as a desktop operating system. At thrice the cost of Acer's offering, though, it may be more difficult for many users to justify the cost.

The Acer AIO is expected to be announced next week, most likely at Computex in Taipei.

[CNET]