VPN: ZBOX-ID41-U
Product ReviewsZotac ZBOX-ID41-U Intel Atom D525 1.8GHZ NVIDIA ION 512MB HDMI DVI GBLAN WLAN USB3.0 Barebone NetTop
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With 6 User Reviews
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 Rating: Review Date: 04/22/12  |
Cons: Loose USB ports on back
Pros: Small, Fast, Quiet, Great for XBMC |
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Rating: Review Date: 09/29/11 |
Cons: Not a powerhouse
Pros: Small,almost completely silent Comment:
If you dont need a powerhouse and you just do normal everyday computing such as wordprocessing, streaming movies, surfing the net, then this is ideal for you. I purchased this unit for someone elses build and I was throroughly impressed by the size, the speed and most definitely the sound. This thing is extremely quiet. For the right person this buy is hard to beat. |
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Rating: Review Date: 09/27/11 |
Cons: Runs HOT! and kinda noisy Nvidia ion performance is low.
Pros: Good performance, cheap build for high def Comment:
I have come to really injoy using my zbox ( just purchased the new amd nano version) however some gripes. The unit runs hot...like very hot and the fan spins at 5500RPM almost constant, although I'm not surprised with cramming so much into such a small space. It works fairly well for high def movies and music, however the ion 2's performance is very weak do to the anemic pci 1x bus it has to run on. The original ion almost beats it in terms of raw performance. However this was because of intel moving the northbridge into the cpu. |
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Rating: Review Date: 08/10/11 |
Cons: No IR port
Pros: Quick setup, good features Comment:
Great starter box for setting up an HTPC (in my case, running XBMC). Unit is easy to get into to install memory and disk. Lots of I/O ports both front and back - only thing missing is an IR port.Includes a TV/monitor VESA mount if you need that. |
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Rating: Review Date: 06/15/11 |
Cons: Wifi antenna does not actually turn off when driver is disabled
Pros: Small form factor, attractive look Comment:
HDMI output is outstanding, very clean and crisp. Definitely should be paired with an SSD drive so that OS boot up and shutdown times are nearly instant.However one thing to be aware of - the wifi antenna on this box is always on. You cannot disable the wifi from the BIOS - it can only be done within the OS, and even when the driver is explicitly disabled and verified as such by checking the power state, antenna stays on. Contrast that against nearly any other device(PC,iOS, Android devices) where, if you turn off Wifi - it's TURNED OFF.Watch out if you have sensitivity to WiFi because there's no way to turn it off here. |
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Rating: Review Date: 06/13/11 |
Cons: Can generate a fair amount of heat when working 100%.
Pros: Lightweight, small, easy to put together. Installation was a breeze. 1080p divx worked smoothly with ION graphics card. Comment:
Purchased this item to fill the space for a small media PC. I was mostly looking for fanless systems, so Shuttle and Giada were two I looked into. At first, I was reluctant to try Zotac as there were no reviews and it does have a fan, but the price point couldn't be beat.Pleasant surprise that the fan is very quiet (as advertised - under 21db). The heat could become an issue so remember to keep it well ventilated. Otherwise, I went with parts that were identified as optimum on the Zotac website and everything has installed smoothly and has been running quiet and speedily. The quad-core processor and ION graphics are suitable for a regular media PC. You might even be able to run some older games on it. |
I've had this Zbox for a while now running as a media player with XBMC. It is the best entertainment purchase I have ever made! I have it running Windows 7 Ultimate and boots right into XBMC. I know you can run just the XBMC as a linux build but I like web browseing on the tv too. For the most part it has run perfectly. I even have a dual-boot setup with Windows 8 consumer preview and it still runs great! I haven't found a video file it can't handle. 1080p, blueray rips, compressed, not compressed, 8gb file, 40gb file, avi, mp4, divx, mkv, doesn't matter, plays them all perfect.My advice for anyone out there looking for a small capable machine to fit into your entertainment space. You cannot go wrong with this nettop. You do not need an i5 or i7 just to push HD to your television, its just a power hungry, huge, waste of a very expensive cpu.My only gripe is that the USB ports on the back could be more snug. There isn't a whole lotta space to work on the back so when I was setting it up or when I've had to move things around, I'll bump something and I'll hear windows make its classic noise like somethings been unplugged, and I have to push everything back in fully again. Anyway, as long as I'm leaving them alone it all works fine.