Zotac ZBOX Nano AD10 Mini PC Review

Final Thoughts
Zotac has really put together not only a good looking mini PC, but one that is just as powerful as their ZBOX HD-AD02!  When I first took the ZBOX Nano out of the box I was so surprised at how small it was.  The form factor is just amazing, especially since the ZBOX HD-AD02 has the same components, but is almost twice as large.  The small cube design is just awesome and looks great on your desk or in your home theater setup.  The aluminum design with the rounded edges is very Apple-esque.  The round green circle that lights up when the system is powered on is pretty cool too.

When it comes down to performance the Zbox Nano is no powerhouse, but it does everything you would expect it to do.  The AMD E350 CPU, AMD Radeon HD 6310 graphics and 2GB of DDR3 have no problems at all playing HD movies, both 720p and 1080p, streaming media, surfing the Internet and even light gaming.  I had no issues getting Boxee and Windows Media Center running flawlessly.

This system is made to be a home theater PC and Zotac knows this and has included a media center remote.  The system comes with 2 IR receivers, one on the front and the other is USB.  This means you are able to use the USB one if you have the ZBOX Nano out of sight.  I was very surprised to see both USB 3.0 and eSATA on this device.  USB 3.0 means you can attach very fast USB 3.0 external drives.  Having eSATA means you can easily connect large storage devices because the 320GB included hard drive won’t cut it.

When it comes down to it the ZBOX Nano is the definite choice when choosing a mini PC.  Out of the 3 mini PC’s we have reviewed it has to be my favorite.  The reason for this is because it does come with the included media center remote, its small form factor, and it does have USB 3.0 and eSATA.  Right now you can get the ZBOX Nano AD10 Plus for around $300 online and the barebones version which does not have a hard drive or memory can be found for around $219.  With that price you really cannot go wrong.  Overall ThinkComputers gives the Zotac ZBOX Nano AD10 Mini PC a 9 out of 10 score and our Recommended Award!

rating9 10 small TC award recommended small

Pros:
– Small and stylish form factor
– USB 3.0 and eSATA
– Included media center remote
– Dual IR receivers
– Price

Cons:
– You need an external DVD drive to install Windows drivers so Windows will install

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