Once upon a time, Dell's Zino HD promised
desktop parts in a tiny box and didn't quite deliver the goods, but it was still cute and powerful enough a mini-desktop to earn a spot on our
holiday gift guide. This time round, it looks like Dell might actually fulfill that original pledge, as support documents leaked at the company's website show the box sporting an AMD RS880M chipset capable of socketing Phenom II quad-core processors. While it only comes with onboard Radeon HD 4250 graphics by default, a Mobility Radeon 5450 GPU is listed as a potential option at launch, and the box can now hold up to 8GB of 1066MHz DDR3 memory alongside 802.11n WiFi and Blu-ray drive options. On the front and back of the small box, you'll find practically exactly the same ports, but there is a new optical S/PDIF socket capable of piping 7.1 surround sound. While there's no guarantee all these options are slated for a stateside launch, we imagine Dell will either deliver or keep a tighter lid on
these sorts of docs.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
posted July 31st 2010 2:55PM
Quad core and discrete graphics card. Oh Neo, you are the one.
@aiiee
Provided they price it right. Thats why I bought three of the old ones (one for each sibling). They showed up on slickdeals with that bing cashback discount for RIDICULOUSLY cheap for what you got (dual-core, 4GB ram, big drive, bluray, dedicated graphics for $300ish after tax).
I'm all about bang for the buck. =)
@Ducman69 Me too, which why I bought the Acer Revo, but it's not adequate for HD
@aiiee
The ION powered Revo?
Try installing the latest PowerDVD player and make sure "enable hardware acceleration" is checked in options. That should take all the load of the processor and might be all you need.
http://benchmarkreviews.com/images/articles/AVIVO_Purevideo_DXVA/Power_DVD_Menu.png
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=407&Itemid=38&limit=1&limitstart=7
Here is an example of one where it was stuttering on 1080P and near 100% CPU utilization on the Intel Atom. Enabled hardware acceleration, and CPU utilization dropped to 13%. :D
@aiiee
Not sure what Revo you have. Mine is Revo 3610, update the ion graphic driver, flash player to 10.1(for 1080p streaming), get core avc with Media player classic and you get to play every HD format on earth. I also have Cyberlink to use with my external slim-line blue ray/dvd player.
Dude, this little media center PC does it all for 300 dollars. Even WMCenter play HD video with core avc.
@Ducman69 Thank you! I'll try that. So far HD streaming is a real crap shoot, mostly crap, stuttering etc., I'll post back here if I can. I do have $330 invested in this thing and right now I'm not real happy an dyes it's the 3610
@zingo75 Tank you too. I will try this also. I've already overclocked it as far as I can with OCTuner. The stuttering is very annoying!
@zingo75 I'm talking HD *streaming, sorry if I didnt make that clear. Power DVD eand the rest, thi will help streaming?
I have a Dell Zino - with Media Browser it's the best HTPC I've ever messed with. I may upgrade to this around the holidays if it makes sense to
@AndyD
Yeah, gee, Dell Media Browser vs. Front Row.. hmmmmmm that's a tough one
/sarc
@Wesscoast Not sure what you're referring to but I'm referring to this...
http://www.mediabrowser.tv/
@AndyD I had not tried that plugin for Windows Media Center. Trying it out now. Thank you. =)
Looks good, oh... Wait... It's a Dell.
VGA? Really? In 2010, they put VGA on the thing? Sure, I know you can do the Mac mini thing and plug your DVI screen in via HDMI, but...
Seriously, Dell. VGA!?
@JulianChase think, if you can use a generic HDMI to DVI cable (cheap as hell too) then to cover the most bases ie connectivity wise a VGA port and HDMI are the best bet. If they had a DVI + HDMI port that would mean the machine would not connect to older projectors and TV's thus "less market market appeal".
@JulianChase I said the exact same thing about the iPad.
@JulianChase
I don't understand your complaint. Its HDMI +and+ VGA.
That way whether you need a HDMI hookup to your TV or receiver, DVI hookup for an older monitor, or VGA hookup for a older projector setup (for whatever reason they were slow to adopt HDMI) you are covered either way. =)
@JulianChase you act as if VGA were as extinct as floppy disks or something. Lots of people have VGA, and the thing already has an HDMI input, an adapter would be really cheap. Why would dell cut out the VGA market?
@MrLinux I didn't even consider the projector angle! That's actually a darned good reason to have it there!
@Ducman69 Yus. Mr. Linux mentioned it too and I realized that I totally hadn't considered projectors!
@Ruben But it has a screen built-in, so... maybe it has VGA for the same reason that Mr. Linux and Le Ducman have pointed out... Projectors.
Hmm this looks very good.... Amd could probably sell a lot of their neo processors and chipsets on a platform like this. I'm looking to replace my old htpc it's fine but just takes up too much space right now, and I don't think the atom has enough power for my liking. Does anyone know of a barebones platform or a mini itx board for amd's processor?
It's getting closer. The specs were what held me from buying it the 1st time around. I liked they added the spdif option, now if they'd have a built in IR with a remote I'd be sold.
@Zach S
IR sucks ass. Use a air-remote that goes over 2.4ghz. That way you never have to worry about line-of-site.
Gyration remote (airmouse/remote about $50 on occasional sale) and EFO RF remote (touchpad/keyboard about $30 on ebay) are my recommendation. Haven't tried it personally, but Lenovo also had something similar which went for $42 recently.
who in the world would need a quad core in this form factor? They'll sell a bunch of these but without the quad i would suspect.
I bought a Zino for my roomates birthday and it chugs along quick doing his websurfing and some office stuff and it's the single core athlon. He's not a gamer so it gets the job done plus it was only $200
I'm still waiting for an SSD option for this device. This would be a great small form factor Media Center box if only it had an SSD so it could have an instant-on feature (at least more so than traditional hard drives).
@jaxim
Use the standby feature. Its far more instant on than booting an SSD from a cold start.
And btw, I have a very fast SSD in my Zino HD, but I still always use the sleep function. Power draw is minimal, and the only problem I have is that for some reason I have to press the power button on the remote twice for it to wake up. *shrugs*
@jaxim Actually you can get an SATA hard drive caddy for the Zino on eBay. The caddy replaces the slimline CD. I just installed one in my Zino 400, along with an SSD. The caddy works, but it doesn't fit flush with the front of the Zino like the slimline CD does, and the finish isn't glossy like the case. Overall it makes the unit ugly in the front, but again it works.
Now as for my Zino 400, which I received YESTERDAY...grrrr. Looks like I might be taking advantage of Dell's 30 day return policy...
Zima!
Take that Mac Mini!
So where is the announcement for this device? I need an HTPC and this kind of box can be perfect fit for me. Probably will be priced 2x in Canada again.