REVIEWS / HTPCS / ZOTAC INTERNATIONAL (MCO) LTD

ZOTAC ZBOX Nano VD01 Plus Review

25 Nov, 2011, 4:38 pm IST | by Roydon Cerejo | HTPCs HTPCs

Small and compact

Small and compact
Good connectivity options
Snazzy power LED
The bundle
Drivers and setup guide
Underwhelming performance

PRICE IN INDIA

16,333
View Stores

TECH2 RATING

6.0

AVERAGE USER RATING

How we test

CONTACT

ZOTAC International (MCO) Ltd

 sales@adityagroup.com

 +91 120 4555 666

 www.zotac.com

No one does HTPCs as well as ZOTAC. Apart from graphics cards, this branch of Sapphire (the makers of AMD graphics cards) has been dabbling with mini PCs and micro-ATX motherboards for a while now. They constantly keep refreshing their line-up with new and updated models. Not too long ago, we tested the Zbox Nano AD10 Plus, a miniature-sized HTPC that literally fits in the palm of your hand. The AD10 Plus was powered by AMD’s Zacate APU, which delivered decent all-round performance for its size. The VD01 is pretty much identical to the former, except that it uses VIA’s new VX900H chipset, making it a little cheaper in the process.

Design and Build
Other than the orange LED ring in this one compared to a green power light in AMD’s offering, there aren’t any other visual cues to tell them apart. The HTPC is extremely small making it easy to install and setup in the most cramped of places. What’s more, you could also VESA mount it at the back of your LCD monitor. The black glossy top gives it a nice visual appeal along with the orange power ring.

Good connectivity options

Good connectivity options

 


The front panel houses the power button (no reset button), hard drive and Wi-Fi LED indicators, multi-card reader, headphone and microphone jacks. The exhaust vents are placed on the left side. Round the back, we have a power port, DisplayPort, HDMI, two USB 3.0 and two USB 2.0 ports, eSATA port, Gigabit Ethernet jack and finally a Kensington lock. ZOTAC bundles an antenna as well for better Wi-Fi reception. The bundle includes a media centre remote and IR receiver, too for use with XBMC.

Features
Since this is the Plus variant, the Zbox comes with 2GB of DDR3 RAM and a 320GB hard drive. There’s no operating system, though, that’s something you’ll have to install yourself. You could opt for a barebones Zbox without the RAM and hard drive as well, if you have some spares lying around the house. The processor is a VIA Nano X2 U4025, a dual-core CPU running at 1.2GHz. The CPU supports 64-bit instruction set among others. The VX900H chipset houses the GPU, which is VIA’s homegrown Chrome 9 HC graphics chip. This bit is a little disappointing as not only is it based on the older ‘Pipeline’ model where pixel shaders and vertex shaders were separate entities, but also that it only supports DirectX 9. It does however support hardware decoding of HD videos in H.264, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, WMV9 and DivX up to 1080p, which is an important feature for an HTPC.

Snazzy power LED

Snazzy power LED

 


The bundled remote comes with a IR receiver, so simply plug it in to a USB port and you’re good to go. You can either use this with Windows Media Centre, XBMC or any other HTPC software. This lets you control all your media right from the comfort of your couch.
 

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Would you buy it?




 

How We Test

The Tech2 Labs receives many products every single week and each of them is tested with the utmost care and highest level of objectivity. There’s a constant effort to reduce and totally eliminate subjectivity. Each product is tested according to set test processes so the same test scenario is used.

Verdict
The ratings awarded to a product are derived from a number of tests and calculations, keeping certain important factors in mind. These factors consist of features, performance, quality and value for money. In case of software and some other categories, build quality might be replaced with ease of use or ease of installation. Products are compared with other products in a similar price range or product category.


Features
The features component of the score is rated based on the kind of features present on a particular product. Features are a big part of what people look for when they’re buying a new product such as a phone or a camera.

Performance
The performance score is derived from the benchmarks and tests run on the product. In case of the subjective scores, an average of the scores given by the group of reviewers is considered.

Build Quality
The build quality of a product is important so that it doesn’t fall apart after some use. The build quality scores from the way the product is designed and the kind of materials used in the product.

Value
Value for money comes from the fact that a cheap product is able to provide most of the performance of a higher priced product. Once again, value for money is judged by comparing pricing and performance of products in a particular price range or category. 

There are many other aspects of the product that are looked at such as the bundled software and accessories. All of these scores are aggregated together to form the final score.

What do the ratings mean?

Ratings are simple - higher the score, the better the product. A brief listing of the features and what they mean are given below.

1 - 3

The product is bad in almost every aspect. We strongly advise against purchasing this product.

4 - 6

An average product that isn't the best you can buy, but isn't the worst either.

7 - 8

Product with this rating is highly recommended because it's priced sensibly, has a good set of features and performs well.

9 - 10

Exceptionally excellent product with features and performance unlike any we've seen in the past. A must-have for everyone!

What is the Average User Rating?

We at Tech2 take product reviewing very seriously and every product is tested with the utmost care and level of objectivity. The end user who buys a particular product and uses it over an extended period of time has his own take on a product and there might be nuances that he or she can shed light on. The Average User Rating is present to help readers get the complete picture of how good or bad a product is. The Average User Rating is calculated by averaging the ratings by the thousands of readers visiting Tech2.com every single day. To record your own rating of a product, simply click on the user rating bar. If you disagree with our ratings or our community's product rating, please don't hesitate from voicing your opinion in the comments section below the review.

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