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
Unlike the ASRock Core 100 / Vision 3D, the Zino 410 HD ships with a wireless keyboard and mouse. The packaging is, therefore, appropriately bigger. Apart from the main Zino 410 unit, the package also contains:
- 90W AC / DC Adapter
- Wireless keyboard and mouse with batteries
- USB RF receiver for the wireless keyboard / mouse
- Media Center remote
- Black lid (to replace the silver lid present on top of the unit by default)
- Support CD and warranty information booklet
Of all the SFF HTPCs I have seen, the Dell Zino 410 HD HTPC has the best industrial design. The contours are quite pleasing and the unit blends in quite nicely with the rest of the AV equipment.
The front panel is taken up by a tray loading Blu-Ray drive on top and a headphone jack, couple of USB 2.0 ports, SD card reader and the IR receiver at the bottom. The power switch is on the top panel.
The left half of the rear panel is taken up by the cooling fan. A press switch to displace the lid is provided at the top and a hard drive activity light is at the bottom. Other ports on the rear panel include 2 eSATA, 1 HDMI 1.3a, 1 VGA, 1 Gigabit Ethernet jack, 2 USB 2.0, a mic/headphone jack, optical SPDIF and the power adaptor connector.
The Zino 410 HD is raised with rubber bushes, and also has ventilation slots on all four sides, as can be seen in the picture above.
Just like a notebook, this unit also supports simultaneous display on two monitors. Testing was done mostly with the HDMI output connected to a Toshiba REGZA 37" 1080p TV through an Onkyo TX-SR 606. For non-media playing related testing, the VGA port was connected to an Acer H243H 1080p monitor.
Our review unit shipped with Windows 7 x64 Home Premium and a OEM version of Cyberlink PowerDVD for Blu-Ray playback.
We will conclude this section with a table to summarize the data and A/V connectivity options for the Zino 410 HD HTPC.
| Option | Status |
|---|---|
| HDMI | Yes [v1.3] |
| Component | No |
| Composite | No |
| VGA | Yes |
| SPDIF | Yes [Optical] |
| Stereo | Yes |
| Option | Status |
|---|---|
| Optical Disk Drive | Yes [Blu-Ray / DVD-RW] |
| USB | Yes [4 x v2.0] |
| eSATA | Yes [2x] |
| LAN | Yes [ 1000 Mbps GbE ] |
| Internal HDD | Yes [ 750 GB ] |
| WiFi | Yes [ 300 Mbps 802.11n ] |
| Card Reader | Yes |
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funtasticguy - Saturday, February 19, 2011 - link
Great and thorough review as always. I just purchased one of the these just yesterday when I noticed their new upgraded chips (P960 & P360). Anyway, does anyone know how easy is it to upgrade the hard drive?ganeshts - Sunday, February 20, 2011 - link
Hard drive upgrading should be pretty straightforward. Just make sure the drive you put in doesn't dissipate more than 8.4 W under full load (just to ensure you don't run into issues with overheating of the unit)tkpmep - Saturday, February 19, 2011 - link
I bought a Zino 410 a few months ago that was configured almost exactly the same way as is the review unit, and found that it came without an IR receiver for a Windows Media Center Remote. It appears that you have to purchase Dell's own Media Center remote when ordering the unit in order for them to install the IR receiver. I now have to use a USB receiver to control WMC. This is disappointing. Also, the USB receiver for the wireless keyboard works a lot better when plugged into a port in front of the unit than into the rear. Apart from this, its a very nice machine.pirspilane - Sunday, February 20, 2011 - link
just get a USB extension cable from monoprice.comsoftdrinkviking - Sunday, February 20, 2011 - link
It seems a little funny at the top of the unboxing page.The paragraph that starts... Of all the SFF HTPCs I have seen, the Dell Zino 410 HD HTPC has the best industrial design....
seems like it should be the first paragraph.
because as it is now, the first paragraph ends with... Apart from the main Zino 410 unit, the package also contains:
but then it starts another paragraph.
seems like they got reversed.
hvakrg - Sunday, February 20, 2011 - link
Ok, so one could buy this and then upgrade the graphics by purchasing a new graphics card on ebay?http://cgi.ebay.com/ATI-Mobility-Radeon-HD-5650-DD...
ganeshts - Monday, February 21, 2011 - link
Need to handle the TDP properly. I think the 5650 is rated for 15-19W, while the 5450 is 11W max. If you don't game at all, it should be pretty OK to get past the video decoder limitations.leftyleno - Sunday, February 20, 2011 - link
$90 SilverStone Aluminum/Steel Micro ATX HTPC Computer Case GD05B$80 AMD Athlon II X3 450 Rana 3.2GHz
$88 Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
$60 SAMSUNG Black Blu-ray Drive SATA Model SH-B123L LightScribe Support
$50 4 gig g skill ram
$55 Microsoft Wireless Comfort Desktop 5000 Keyboard and Mouse Set - Black
$80 Radeon hd 5670
$54 SeaSonic S12II 380B 380W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply
$100 ASUS M4A88TD-M/ USB3 SATA 3 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
$100 Windows
$20 Intel 622AN.HMWWB Mini PCI Express 6200 Centrino Advanced-N Wireless Adapter
=$ 780
Beat that Dell!
GeorgeH - Sunday, February 20, 2011 - link
SilverStone GD05B Dimensions:5.91"x17.32"x12.79", 1300 cubic inches
Del Zino 410 Dimensions:
3.4"x7.8"x7.8", 200 cubic inches
The Dell is well over six times smaller.
Radeon 5670 Power Consumption ~ 60W
Zino 410 Power Consumption ~ ~60W
The entire Dell system consumes as much power as one component.
Not only did Dell already "beat that", they did so by a very large margin.
geok1ng - Sunday, February 20, 2011 - link
"$80 AMD Athlon II X3 450 Rana 3.2GHz"If you wanna do this, do it the right way; use an e series CPU from AMD for better thermals, or simply go the i3 way.
"$54 SeaSonic S12II 380B 380W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply"
That is A LOT of unused power, simply go the picoPSU way. Better thermals and small form factory. A well built sistem would use a notebook power brick to save space and move heat generation away from the SFF case.
"$100 ASUS M4A88TD-M/ USB3 SATA 3 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard""
With AMD integrated graphics, i would rather use a custom cooling solution and overclock the hell out of the IGP. 900Mhz core is not an impossible goal for 785G and better IGPs. AND there are smaller ITX MOBOs for this plataform.