Zotac ZBOX: Brazos Goes HTPC
by Andrew Van Til on June 9, 2011 5:00 PM ESTFinal Thoughts
With an outstanding form factor, including a slim-line slot loading Blu-ray drive, the ZOTAC ZBOX AD03BR-PLUS-U delivers on Fusion’s promise of an affordable, capable, low power HTPC. With an MSRP of $519 (street ~$512), it is possible to DYI an E-350 system with similar media capabilities for a bit less; however, but matching the size and overall attractiveness and flexibility of the ZBOX would be impossible to do economically. The form factor is demanding, with limited I/O and future expandability, so it is not the right fit for every scenario—especially those where a stronger CPU is required. That said, as a client HTPC or standalone media streamer the E-350’s balance of CPU + GPU provides a good mix of performance and power consumption.
Pros:
- Form factor
- Power usage
- Mountable
- Multi-channel LPCM/HD Audio support from an AMD IPG
Cons:
- Video levels can be difficult to get right
- Limited I/O ports and expandability
- Fan can get a bit loud under heavy load
- Heavy network use causes the NIC to stress the CPU
Thanks to ZOTAC for providing the review sample.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
36 Comments
View All Comments
erikstarcher - Thursday, June 9, 2011 - link
I have 2 such units in use around the house. What I hate is that most laptops these days have the ports on the sides and not the rear. And the dvd drive is on the side, not on the front. Better design for laptop use, but not as good for small form factor HTPC's.bobbozzo - Thursday, June 9, 2011 - link
s/completive/competitive/JarredWalton - Thursday, June 9, 2011 - link
Completive: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/CompletiveAs in, formerly SFF HTPCs have lacked some features, and they are becoming more complete.
Etern205 - Thursday, June 9, 2011 - link
Don't know about you guys, but this Zotac Zbox's top side kind of lookslike a door bell speaker system. Just place it next to a door and you'll see
what I mean.
Lord 666 - Thursday, June 9, 2011 - link
Installed two of these at work. the profile is much thinner than the wall mounted LCD.Upgraded the memory and debating about swapping out the hdd for an ssd.
burntham77 - Friday, June 10, 2011 - link
Bump the memory up to 4 gigs, swap in an SSD for the OS and software, bring in a 2TB HDD (most likely external, as I doubt this thing has space for it inside), and this would be a perfect HTPC, especially paired up with an HDHomerun.liveonc - Thursday, June 9, 2011 - link
Just stick a keyboard on top, or sell it to Commodore & they'll know what to do ;-)KaarlisK - Friday, June 10, 2011 - link
Why shouldn't TRIM work with MS Windows' native IDE driver? I've read that it works.JarredWalton - Friday, June 10, 2011 - link
It might work, but I think it also depends on implementation and driver. Also, NCQ won't work, and I'm not sure if Native IDE will allow full SATA performance -- would be interesting to do some tests and see how much of a difference it makes.BoonDoggie - Friday, June 10, 2011 - link
This is for the more for the media-based HTPC crowd. It looks awesome, sexy, incredible, but not enough HP to move a gaming crowd. there's gotta be a middle ground in all this, HTPC for media, BUT enough HP for (at least) basic gaming. Not Crisis, mind you, but some rts, or simple rpg without all the eye candy, maybe, @ 1920x1080. Keep it under 6 bills, and i'm yours.