Smart Home Blog

ZOTAC recently launched its new product – ZBOX AD10. Its compact and stylish nettop based on AMD E-350 APU and a Radeon HD 6310. Additionally box sports 320GB HDD, 2GB DDR3 RAM, integrated 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0 and a pair of USB 3.0 ports. Good news for audiophiles. The AD10 supports Dolby® TrueHDâ„¢ & DTS-HDâ„¢ (Master Audio bitstream ready) over HDMI. So, it can be used as High-End HTPC.

New ZOTAC AD10 is available at very attractive price – just $276! Together with XBMC it might bring your home theater experience to the new level!

You already heard about Zotac ZBOX nettop with Blu-ray player and nVidia Ion 2 graphics, I suppose. Now it’s time to announce the new ZBOX Blu-ray AD03. It based on the latest AMD dual-core 1.6Ghz processor and 500Mhz Radeon HD 6310 graphics. It give you support of DirectX 11 3D, 1080p video, Blu-ray playback, and Dolby TrueHD / DTS-HD Master Audio over HDMI (remember that nVidia Ion 2 model doesn’t support HD audio).

The ZBOX Blu-ray AD03 sports USB 3.0 ports, Mini-PCI Express expansion slot, card reader, a slim Blu-ray drive, Gigabit Ethernet and built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi. It comes with two configuration – barebone and fully functional nettop with 250GB HDD and 2GB DDR3 RAM which can be extended up to 8GB. The ZBOX looks very attractive as a base for compact, quiet and power HTPC. You need just add IR/RF remote control and USB TV tuner or DVB card if you need. However, Linux folks should check the support of Radeon HD 6310 first. Sure, now ATI drivers for Linux are much much better then two-three years ago. But they’re still not so good as nVidia ones. In any case, thanks to Zotac to give us more then one choice.

The ZBOX Blu-ray AD03 should be available now. No any words about the price but we can expect something around €500 for model with HDD and RAM.

[via eHomeUpgrade]

Zotac recently launched a new nettop Zbox HD with Blu-ray drive. You may choose between barebone model HD-ID33 and full-functional one ID-34 with 2Gb RAM and 250Gb HDD. Both models use Intel Atom D525 processor and nVidia Ion2 graphic.

The new Zbox cannot bitstream DTS-HD MA or Dolby TrueHD. So, the big fans of HD sound won’t be happy with that fact. However, two USB 3.0 ports, slim and stylish design and very reasonable price – $399 for HD-ID33 and $400 for HD-ID34 can still make those nettops one of the best options for the noiseless and compact HTPC with Full HD support. Sure comparing with AsRock HTPC they leak IR receiver. But from another had ZBox doesn’t have any fans. And personally I like it form-factor more than AsRock one.

[via Engadget]

Zotac announced its new nettop ZBOX HD-ID11 based on the nVidia Ion 2 graphic platform. The rest spec includes a dual-core 1.66GHz Atom D510 CPU, HDMI 1.3a, six USB ports, integrated 802.11n WiFi, dual-link DVI, and a 6-in-1 media card reader. The box supports Full HD and offers flawless Flash 10.1 playback as well, thanks to powerful 16 cores GeForce G210 GPU. And the price is very attractive – $209.99 only for the barebone version in US! Hope that European version won’t be much more expensive.

[via Engadget]

Products, offered by UK based company Aleutia, can be good candidates to be HTPC or media client. They are tiny, noiseless and use very little power. However they have enough power for HD video playback thanks to nVidia Ion graphical platform.

Also you may peep inside the Aleutia’s PC using their Flickr photo stream. And even you won’t buy anything from Aleutia it might give you some useful ideas to build tiny and silent HTPC by yourself.