Dell Zino HD 410 HTPC Review
by Ganesh T S on February 19, 2011 7:08 AM EST- Posted in
- HTPC
- Dell
- AMD
- Media Streamer
- ATI
HTPC enthusiasts are rightly concerned about the noise factor, heat and power consumption, ease of usage and many other criteria. We will tackle each of these concerns one by one in this section.
Noise
While the Zino 410 is much better than both the ASRock Core 100 and Vision 3D in terms of noise levels, it is not the perfect ultra-quiet HTPC that some enthusiasts crave for. With performance comes the necessity to dissipate generated heat, and the Zino 410's capabilities and form factor mean that it can't be a passively cooled system.
Unfortunately, we don't have the exact noise levels for the Zino 410. However, listening to the Vision 3D, Core 100 and the Zino 410 separately in the same surroundings led me to the conclusion that the Zino 410 was the quietest of the lot.
Power Consumption
In order to get an idea of the power consumption numbers, the Prime95 and Furmark benchmarks were let run overnight to keep both the CPU and GPU completely loaded for an extended duration. Under these extreme conditions, we found the average power consumption to be 62.3 W. At idle, the average power consumption was 29.4 W.
While load power conditions are better than the Vision 3D, it is not as efficient as the Core 100. As for idle power consumption, the system trails both the Core 100 and the Vision 3D.
Ease of Use
HTPC enthusiasts are concerned about how easy it is for their system to come out of standby. Existence of HDMI handshake issues upon return from standby is also a deal breaker for many. Fortunately, the Zino 410 has no issues in these two aspects.
Within Windows, the MCE remote can be made to work with a variety of applications such as XBMC, MediaPortal, MPC-HC and of course, Windows 7 Media Center. Blu Ray players such as PowerDVD and ArcSoft TMT can also be controlled with the help of the MCE remote. The wireless keyboard / mouse combo also supplants the remote for extended functionality.
One of the main drawbacks of pre-built PCs which come with Windows pre-installed is the bloatware. After the review unit finished booting up for the first time, I noticed that there were 67 processes active and 1.13 GB of RAM already utilized. On numerous occasions in course of the review, I was pestered to activate my McAfee subscription and also utilize Dell Backup and other such add-ons. It would have been nice to have some sort of switch to turn off the bloatware completely. Reinstalling the OS is also an option.
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myangeldust - Saturday, September 10, 2011 - link
An internal tuner would up the heat generated and require a larger case. But Dell should have offered the option for a tuner.A great HTPC would have a SSD and a NTSC/ATSC/radio dual tuner with a motorized slot drive for DVD/BD. The case could act as an antenna for TV/radio reception and made laptop thin to fit on the back of your HDTV. Though it would be a separate model for a more expensive niche market. Still cheaper than most Macs though.
tipoo - Saturday, February 19, 2011 - link
I've been waiting for an AT review of the Zino HD, thanks! I wonder if AMD's Brazos chips will make their way into this? Looks like it can handle much higher watt parts (ie the x4), but as a base config that would be nice.Trefugl - Saturday, February 19, 2011 - link
I was going to make the same comment about Brazos.I've had my eye on the Dell Zino 410 for a long time, but now that Brazos is around I am thinking of either building something of my own or waiting until someone like Dell produces a system.
Ganesh, do you know (or suspect) if Dell has a Brazos update to the Zino planned? I think a small system like that would be nearly perfect for an HTPC.
Edgar_Wibeau - Saturday, February 19, 2011 - link
My guess is, AMDs 2nd APU, Llano, will find its way into this Box. It will also solve the graphics-being-too-slow-issue if it is an issue for some. Llano is supposed to hit the market in summer. Llano will be based on 32nm tech and feature a GPU that is at least twice as powerful as the one in Zacate. The CPU part will also be significantly faster than Zacate as it will be the successor to the current Athlons/Turions/Phenoms in notebooks. On the down-side, it'll also be more expensive than Zacate of course.ganeshts - Sunday, February 20, 2011 - link
My educated guess is that the next generation Zino HD's base configs will be based on Zacate.Our initial look at Brazos indicates that it is as weak as the Mobility 5450. I wouldn't expect great things in the $300 - $500 configs.
As you also mention, I am looking forward to the Llano to make an appearance in the high end configs. I expect none of the configs would need a discrete GPU making it easier for Dell ( but, first, Llano needs to come to the market ! )
Spacecomber - Saturday, February 19, 2011 - link
Would it have made any sense (and been practical) to get some numbers on the integrated 4250 graphics solution? I found myself wondering how much the advantage was with the upgrade to the discrete 5450.At some point, it would be helpful to get a sound-level meter, given how important (and subjective) judgements of what is quiet can be when talking about home theatre and audio PCs.
Nevertheless, enjoyed the read; thanks for the review.
DanNeely - Saturday, February 19, 2011 - link
80SP @ 675 vs 40SP @ 500 is a 2.7x factor; and while a crude comparison is sufficient to show the 4250 would be crushed on light gaming benchmarks.The closest I could find in the first few pages of reviews here was a laptop with the 4225 (40SP @ 380) which is crushed by about 3x in FPS vs the 5450; I didn't see anything comparing their abilities in video decoding.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3862/toshiba-t235d-a...
DNW - Saturday, February 19, 2011 - link
I am looking for a computer for my home theater. I never play games. I do watch a lot of television and movies. Blu ray performance would be important to me. I also have a large collection of 40 years of home movies originally shot on everything from beta to vhs to digital, all of which I have digitized and would like to watch.I need a computer and not a Google TV or WD Live box because these and similar solutions will not play all my videos, all of which play just great on a computer. My monitor is an Olevia 65" LCD TV. Is the size/type of TV a factor, or not factor?
Will the Zino HD410 suffice for my purposes (if so, what configuration), or do I need to get something more powerful? Naturally, I would like to keep costs to a minimum, but not to the extent that my objectives are not met.
ganeshts - Sunday, February 20, 2011 - link
If it is just Blu-Ray you are interested in, and not any recorded TV content / content from friends, then the Zino 410 as reviewed is good enough. I can't vouch for the capabilities of the other configs.The TV to which it is connected is not an issue 99% of the time. (Sometimes, there could be problems with HDMI handshake, but a quick Google search of 5450 + Olevia model number would reveal that)
capeconsultant - Saturday, February 19, 2011 - link
The 3.5 inch drive is hotter, uses more power, and takes up more space that could be used for thermal and/or design purposes. Desktop or NAS ONLY for 3.5 please.