Zotac Zbox Plus ID80 Intel Atom & GeForce ION Mini PC Unboxing & First Look Linus Tech Tips
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2012-05-07
·
1,346 words · ~6 min read
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welcome to my unboxing and first look at the Zotac ZBOX plus id80 this is a
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creatively color scheme see the blue ring for the Intel Atom Processor inside
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versus the green ring on the ad04 which
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is over there which has an AMD Apu
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inside so this is a an atom as well as
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GeForce ion solution which is very similar otherwise to the other Mini PC
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so what we're going to do is on my NCI ncio ncixcom Channel we're going to take
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these guys head-to-head and find out which one performs the best but for now
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I still have to do the unboxing of this so there's a bunch of stuff on the
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outside of the box which we're basically not going to concern ourselves with too much other than the specs so it uses an
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Intel atom d2700 so this is a new generation dual core at 2.13 GHz with an
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Intel nm10 Express chipset so that means this is an older class GPU a gt520 with
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512 Megs of dedicated DDR3 memory it's
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using 2 gigs of RAM and a 320 gig hard drive although all Z boxes are available
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as a completed PC so that is one with memory and with a drive or as a
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barebones so you can buy it as a barebones put an SSD in there you know
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throw a bunch of RAM in there it's I think it's got two slots so you should
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be able to put up to 8 gigs of memory yes so you can do up to 8 gigs of memory
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in here it includes gigabit Lan
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802.11 802.11n Wi-Fi see I'm I'm just
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off today Bluetooth 3.0 SD card reader
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on board 8 channel digital audio with stereo analog audio out and the rest of
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this is stuff that we will pretty much cover when we open it up so inside we
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find some manuals and accessories and Driver discs and warranty terms which is
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two years in one year in the Americas
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two years in the EU I believe that's by law driver installation DVD which you're
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going to want to not use and download the latest off the Zotac or other
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manufacturer website there's a users manual with an
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addendum for best compatibility please use only the eat or USB 2.0 ports as the
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OS installation Source they are right USB this is not a unique issue with
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Zotac but it's very difficult to install an OS directly off of a bootable USB
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drive on a USB 3 Port because a lot of them don't have the drivers built in
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already quick start guide moving along we have a power
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adapter with the other piece of said power adapter there's the DC converter
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go ahead and throw that guy back in there on the other side we find a pretty
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wicked media
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remote that is taped in pretty good and then sealed in pretty good and then
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takes batteries that look like that comes with the batteries by the way guys
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don't worry don't be afraid of the scary batteries that nobody has lying around
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okay we've also got a DVI to VGA
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adapter a who's it or a what's
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it I don't know what this is oh okay there's our IR receiver for the buil or
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the built-in for the included remote next we have a Wi-Fi antenna whoops
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there it is whatever okay uh four screws
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and I'll more on that later batteries and finally a little plastic
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mounting piece that you can use to prop up your ZBOX very
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fashionably next we have the ZBOX unit
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itself and it's going to look kind of weird I can tell you that guys
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now that is your new Mini
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PC yeah that does look weird I'll explain why that is in just a moment so
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let's peel off some plastic first one piece of
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plastic uh one switch to open it up uh
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and then we've got another piece of foam to keep it from getting all scratched so
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it looks all nice slick when you get
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it okay and that is what the PC actually
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looks like so this piece you use those four included screws and you can
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actually V amount your ZBOX onto the
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back of a compatible TV or monitor so it includes a couple of different spacings
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you just go ahead and you see this piece right here you line that up with this
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right here just like that
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you Clipper in and you're done hopefully you've
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already screwed the uh the mounting clip to the back of the TV otherwise you're
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going to have no way to screw it in you're going to take your hand off and the whole thing's going to fall down but
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uh as long as you do that first and then clip it in then you should be okay let's
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have a look at what we've got in terms of IO so we've got our power button as
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well as activity LEDs for wireless Len as well as the drive front USB 2 front
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SD card reader front microphone as well as front headphones on the top we have
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another USB 2.0 Port that's a handy place for that we have an exhaust vent
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right here at the top of the unit remember guys heat does typically rise
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so that is a good place for that as well and intakes on the bottom once again
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heat rises Etc and that is a good place for those as well one of the things
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you'll probably notice as I show you if you don't notice while I show you then
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you're not doing very well here um is we can go ahead and clip this in just like
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that it sticks and your ZBOX sits like that all Ely mounting wise you can use
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these rubber feet right there to go ahead and take that and put it like
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right there just like that and that is the other way of mounting of mounting
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the ZBOX all right so the bottom we're done
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oh yeah here's the screws so here's to take it apart so you can take it apart
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even if you buy one that comes with a drive and comes with RAM you can take it apart and change them if you see fit
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remember ZB boxes do not come with an OS so you will have to procure an OS
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whether it's one you already have or whether you buy one at a place like say for example NC and you can install it
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yourself or you could pay a technician to do it but I would recommend
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installing yourself it's not that hard and I'm going to try and put this Wi-Fi
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antenna on here I'm trying here there we go
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bam and there we go we've also got two
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USB 3.0 super speed ports on the back two more USB 2.0 ports so that is a
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total of six USB ports 1 GB Ethernet DVI
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HDMI optical audio and Power in so that
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is a pretty full complement
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of oh okay cooling fan so there is the
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cooling fan for the actual uh where the bulk of the processing is going on
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inside so you've got your intake here you've got an intake here and then the
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exhaust is going to be predominantly up here so I think that pretty much covers
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it guys stay tuned and don't forget to subscribe to my ncixcom channel as well
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so you can see our round up our shootout our ultimate battle royale of the
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somewhat less than Titans the mini PCS