I like to browse through Facebook Marketplace for fun, and stumbled across a posting for an interesting-looking computer: a mint condition Acute Angle AA B4 Mini PC, a stylish triangular computer with a case made of aluminum and actual wood that was launched in January 2018 at CES. The seller’s based in Largo near Indian Rocks and asking $240.
Here are its specs:
- Intel Celeron N3450/4C/4T with 2MB cache running at 1.1GHz
- 8 GB DDR3 RAM (maximum)
- 192GB onboard storage (128GB SSD / 64GB eMMC)
- Intel HD Graphics 500
- Wireless:
- Intel Wireless AC 3165 802.11c wifi
- Bluetooth 4.0
- Ports:
- 3 USB 3.0
- 1 HDMI
- RJ-45 gigabit Ethernet
- Audio out
(If you want to buy it right now, here’s the link to the Facebook Marketplace page for the computer. You’ll have to pick it up. If you buy it, let me know!)
These machines have an interesting history. The “Acute Angle” in the computer’s brand name refers to Acute Angle Cloud, one of those companies that sprang up in the late 2010s that vaguely describe themselves as being an IaaS company that developed GameFi and NFT applications.
So why did they make a PC? The idea was to sell attractive PCs that style-conscious (and presumably moneyed) customers would buy, which would run crytpo mining software to mine cryptocurrency during idle cycles, including Acute Angle Cloud’s own Acute Angle Coin (AAC).
Acute Angle Cloud doesn’t seem to exist anymore. Its website at acuteangle.com is no longer active, and Acute Angle Coin now trades under the name “Double-A Chain,” and at the time of writing, its value is less that two-tenths of one U.S. cent.
When this computer debuted at CES 2018, Bitcoin was trading at a then all-time high of just over $17K and the computer sold for over $600. But when the prices of cryptocurrencies crashed in 2019, Acute Angle started selling them at a deep discount for $150 or even less.
Once again, here’s the Facebook Marketplace page for this computer.
