Thoughts on the Dell Zino HD

[kondspi]

Has anyone seen this yet?

It is a $230 SFF that Dell just released.

Looks like a cool piece of HW.

 

[unfalliblekrutch]

it looks very interesting. Cheap HTPC maybe...

 

[deanx0r]

I had my eyes on the Mac Mini for an HTPC, but the Dell has a very attractive price.
Any info on the Athlon 6850e it features? Where does it stand in term of raw power versus an Atom or Core 2 Duo. I tried to google it and nothing really came up.

 

[boomhower]

I am looking very hard at it. My main question is what's the lowest CPU it will take to play 1080P.

 

[Bateluer]

I am looking very hard at it. My main question is what's the lowest CPU it will take to play 1080P.

Since the Radeon 4330 has decoding capabilities, probably not all that much. Can't the Atom play 1080p when paired with the 9400M IGP, or was that just 720p? Either way, the 4330 is much more powerful than the Nvidia IGP.

 

[boomhower]

I wan't planning on adding a GPU unless it was cheaper than upgrading the CPU to get the power needed to play 1080P. I mean from the HD as I would not be getting the BR.

 

[frostedflakes]

The onboard graphics support offloading H.264 and VC-1 from the CPU, you don't even need the discrete video card (unless you want extra performance for gaming, of course). The system shouldn't have any problem playing HD video.

 

[hans007]

I had my eyes on the Mac Mini for an HTPC, but the Dell has a very attractive price.
Any info on the Athlon 6850e it features? Where does it stand in term of raw power versus an Atom or Core 2 Duo. I tried to google it and nothing really came up.

the 6850e is a 1.8 ghz brisbane g2 core with a 22W tdp.

the 3250e is a 1.5 ghz of the same thing with 22W tdp.

I would assume its power use would be quite low for either core. for comparison a 1.9ghz brisbane G2 is called a 3600+ so it would be reasonably fast. I think the zino would use no more power than a mac mini anyway as those use 25W tdp intel laptop chips (which are on a less conservative TDP rating system too)

 

[hans007]

Since the Radeon 4330 has decoding capabilities, probably not all that much. Can't the Atom play 1080p when paired with the 9400M IGP, or was that just 720p? Either way, the 4330 is much more powerful than the Nvidia IGP.

i have an itx box that has a 780g on it and well i had a 2650e cpu sitting around for a while and that decoded blu-rays at 1080p fine because of theonboard video.


the 2650e happens to be the cheapest cpu dell offers with the zino.

 

[CurseTheSky]

Looks pretty cool. I was thinking about building something like this for myself, but I doubt I could find such an attractive enclosure. I just hope the things aren't loud, whiny, and annoying.

 

[IlllI]

you can get a very basic version for 199 http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1673232

edit: found a better deal + gift card



http://bountii.com/deal-3657069-dell-inspiron-zino-hd-windows.html

 

[Gooberlx2]

I bet they'll be pretty excellent deals when they hit the outlet. Perfect for HTPC I'm thinking.

 

[msi1337]

they are on sale for $199 with a $60 dell giftcard today. I got one with the upgraded X2 processor..wondering if I should have upgraded the video?

 

[JWade]

i ordered one with the 1.6ghz dual core and the video card, figured a dedicated video cant hurt

 

[jalyst]

what you gunna use it for, media front end?
Linux or Windows?

Cheers

 

[msi1337]

I am going to use mine to surf the internet on. it is still being built and isnt supposed to ship until Dec 10th, 2009

 

[Bateluer]

I am going to use mine to surf the internet on. it is still being built and isnt supposed to ship until Dec 10th, 2009

I insist on detailed internal and exterior pictures.

 

[Ciber]

You guys did notice that this thing does NOT have 5.1 sound, right? HTPC fail.

 

[Hoober]

You guys did notice that this thing does NOT have 5.1 sound, right? HTPC fail.

It looks like the ATI 43xx chipset will do 7.1 encoded, but not LPCM. So I guess it depends on what you're looking for in an HTPC.

 

[msi1337]

14 days and still no love from dell. hasnt even been finished being built yet

 

[TimeKeeper]

Anyone know if the CPU is upgradable? I figure, it might be cheaper to upgrade the CPU myself, if not solder to the board.

 

[JWade]

from the service manual i found online, the cpu is upgradeable. mine is suppose to be delivered on the 10th, but i think that is the ship date.

on another note, if anyone ordered one and got the extra color panels with it, please let me know, i forgot to change the color when i ordered mine.

 

[jaybittle]

For those that ordered a Zino (myself included), check your dell order status today.

I found my original order from Nov 18th with ship date on Dec 10th to be canceled, and a new order placed as of Dec 3rd, with an estimated ship date of Dec 18th.

If I didn't want this HTPC so badly, I'd cancel the order outright since they never bothered to contact me to tell me of the issues.

 

[Bateluer]

Found out today that my employer has ordered about a hundred Zinos for use as point of sale machines. Adds are, I will be getting considerable hands on time with them very soon.

 

[msi1337]

For those that ordered a Zino (myself included), check your dell order status today.

I found my original order from Nov 18th with ship date on Dec 10th to be canceled, and a new order placed as of Dec 3rd, with an estimated ship date of Dec 18th.

If I didn't want this HTPC so badly, I'd cancel the order outright since they never bothered to contact me to tell me of the issues.

yes they did this to me as well. I don't know whats up with Dell, but lately their service is getting worse and worse. The south asian lady I spoke to assured me that everything would be okay multiple times, but never actually addressed any of my concerns.