Acer debuts 4K Google TV box in South Africa preorder

Acer has quietly entered the streaming device market with a 4K Google TV box, now listed for preorder in South Africa. The compact white set top box, announced this week on Acer's South African preorder page, is priced at 1,499 South African rand, roughly $80, and pairs a reference-style Google TV remote with a heavier-than-usual complement of ports and midrange internals.

Unlike many recent streaming devices that slim down connections, Acer's box emphasizes expandability. The unit includes two USB-C ports, one USB-A port, an HDMI output, an Ethernet jack, a microSD card slot and an SPDIF optical audio port for digital audio systems. A separate power input preserves a USB-C port for other uses, a detail that could matter to users juggling peripherals or external storage.

Under the hood, Acer lists an Amlogic S905X5 system-on-chip with a quad-core Cortex-A510 CPU and a Mali-G310 GPU, along with a 4 TOPS neural processing unit that the company says enables "superresolution" upscaling. The device also supports Wi-Fi 6 for faster wireless throughput. The included remote follows Google's reference design and carries quick-access buttons for YouTube, YouTube Music, Netflix and Prime...