Zotac ZBOX Intel Atom D510 1.66 GHz Dual Core All-in-One Mini-PC with No Memory, No Hard Drive and No OS

Product Details

Zotac ZBOX Intel Atom D510 1.66 GHz Dual Core All-in-One Mini-PC with No Memory, No Hard Drive and No OS From Zotac List Price: $249.99 Price: $216.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details http://astore.amazon.com/desktop-computers-servers-for-sale-20?_encoding=UTF8&node=2 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Ships from and sold by Amazon.com 10 new or used available from $216.99 Average customer review:

Product Description

Enjoy eco friendly computing with superior energy-efficiency and performance with the ZOTAC ZBOX HD-ID11 mini-PC powered by the class-leading next-generation NVIDIA ION and Intel Atom architectures. Next-generation NVIDIA ION graphics deliver unrivaled levels of performance and high definition video decode capabilities to the ZOTAC ZBOX HD-ID11 mini-PC with NVIDIA CUDA , PureVideo HD and HDMI 1.3a technologies for eco friendly computing with premium audio and video capabilities. High performance eco friendly computing is only two thumb screws away with the ZOTAC ZBOX HD-ID11 mini-PC thanks to a user friendly design that makes mastering the mini-PC quick and easy. Space for a 2.5-inch hard drive and one 200-pin DDR2-800 DIMM slot enable users to customize the internals of the ZOTAC ZBOX HD-ID11 to their own needs while USB 2.0 ports, a 6-in-1 memory card reader (SD/SDHC/MS/MS Pro/xD/MMC) and eSATA port provide greater external expansion capabilities for perfect eco friendly computing.

---

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4355 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Zotac
• Model: ZBOXHD-ID11-U
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 3.75" h x 10.50" w x 13.50" l, 3.00 pounds

Features

• Zotac Customizable Everywhere Mini-PC
• Intel Atom D510 CPU (1.66 GHz, Dual-Core), NVIDIA ION GPU (w/512MB DDR3 memory)
• 1 2.5-inch SATA 3.0 Gb/s hard drive, 1 200-pin DDR2-800 SO-DIMM
• NVIDIA PureVideo HD technology, NVIDIA CUDA technology, Adobe Flash Player 10.1 acceleration, DirectX 10 compatible
• HDMI (1080p w8-channel audio), Dual-link DVI, HDCP compliant, VGA , NVIDIA nView multi-display technology

---

Customer Reviews

The perfect HTPC?
I was a little concerned that the Z-BOX would be a bit underpowered, but the new atom processor coupled with the ION chip set give it plenty of go.
With win7 it works right out of the box, although you'll need to get the latest NVIDIA drivers (windows update has these as optional updates), and it required a Bios update to quiet the fan, but once that was done it was pretty much inaudible, especially with the TV on.

As an indication of how it handles the load, Media Center uses about 40% CPU (distributed across the 4 cores) even when recording 2 HDTV channels using separate USB DVB-T receivers and playing back a previously recorded show (all at 1080i).
There was even enough grunt in the ION graphics (which are supposed to be equivalent to a GeForce 218) to get it play Left 4 Dead, UT3, Portal etc. all at near HD resolutions, with reasonable frame rates, although the details and reflections were turned down.

Getting it to work with MythTV (back end / front end all in one) was a little more challenging, but that's down to Linux not the PC. In the end, it worked for that as well.

It wakes as expected from signals on the Microsoft USB remote control, but not the RF keyboard or mouse, and the BIOS doesn't support wake on lan - for me not a show stopper.

The only other minor issue I have found is that any drives attached to the eSata port get seen as non-removable, only gets detected if the device is present at boot, and Windows crashes if it's unplugged.

Does run a little warm, especially when you hit it hard with games, but it doesn't seem excessive.

On the whole, I'm very happy with it!
Great PC for the price and size
Not the fastest computer around, but for the size and features just what I wanted. I got one for a general pupose play thing to try out new versions of linux and such. I am getting two more one for to replace my daily windows machine and another as a everyday linux desktop. With the digital video (HDMI) outputs to my two 25" wide sceeen monitors email and browsing has never been better. It seems to run a bit warm but not as warm as either of the laptops I have. It comes with the vesa bracket to mount on the rear of my monitors, with a wireless keyboard and mouse I finaly have a almost clutter free desk.
Feature rich, but not robust. Zotac needs better quality control
I was quite excited buying this box after reading reviews and spec over the web! I wish I would have purchased Acer AspireRevo instead.

Good:
1) HDMI and S/PDIF works great
2) Lots of USB port, so you will never run out of it!
3) eSATA port provides better expansion
4) Has on board GigE, so if you want to use this for HTPC along w/ shared storage, it will work great
5) Doesn't come with any HDD, RAM, OS so you can pick and choose :)

Bad:
1) Out of the box fan was very noisy. Luckily BIOS upgrade fixed the problem.
2) Spec says it has built-in 802.11n :) Beware that if your AP is more than 20 feet away, you are out of luck! Signal reception is very poor. So, read reviews on this before you buy, if WiFi is a must for you.
3) I've strange issue with USB power. When I connect the power cable to zbox attached USB devices gets power even if I don't power on the zbox itself! My HDD continues to spin for ever. I opened support ticket but no help/response from Zotac. If I turn on the zbox for few seconds and turn off, USB devices stops getting power. Some bug in h/w I guess. Yes, I know about "Wake on USB" and I've already tried changing that setting as well.
4) It has RED LED behind power on/off button. If u put zbox in standby mode, it keeps on blinking along with the Blue Ring! Very distracting to keep in living room. If you disable Blue Ring logo from BIOS, then power on/off button is always RED even when system is up and running :)

It's getting quite hot even after 1-2 hours of use, so if you are thinking for a long use, you may need to use ice pack.

Adding HDD, RAM and OS will cost you same as Aspire Revo. Revo comes w/ wireless keyboard and mouse with the similar CPU and GPU power. Revo has Atom 330 and not 510, but for HTPC use, heavy lifting is done by GPU anyway, so you really don't need powerful CPU. 330 should be good enough. And review says WiFi is not bad. So, my suggestion would be to buy Revo and not zbox. Also, Revo looks very nice compared to zbox.

So, think before you buy!