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Zotac ZBox Blu-ray AD03 takes AMD Fusion into the living room

by Parm Mann on 5 January 2011, 09:35

Tags: ZOTAC

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We've yet to test AMD's Fusion platform for ourselves, but the support being shown by the industry can only be a good sign.

We're seeing Fusion-based notebooks and computer systems pour out of this year's CES, and joining the likes of HP, Lenovo and Gigabyte is Zotac, whose ZBox Blu-ray AD03 aims to take Fusion into the living room.

The compact mini-PC, pictured above, isn't entirely new, but unlike previous models, the new AD03 packs a dual-core AMD Fusion E-350 APU complete with integrated Radeon HD 6310 graphics.

AMD's platform is showing plenty of early HTPC potential, and Zotac's ZBox is shaping up to be a neat little number for those who don't want to build their own.

Despite its slim appearance, the system sports 2GB of memory, a 250GB hard disk, a slot-loading Blu-ray optical drive and built-in Wireless N connectivity. The array of ports, meanwhile, is made up of HDMI, DVI and VGA out, as well as Gigabit Ethernet, eSATA, four USB ports - half of which are of the 3.0 variety - and optical output for the onboard 7.1 audio. Oh, and it's VESA-compliant, too, so mounting it to the back of your big-screen TV should be a breeze.

We've yet to hear official details regarding price and availability, but $499 is the figure floating around the Internet. A barebones model - with no pre-installed memory or storage - is said to be on its way for $399.


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HEXUS Forums :: 7 Comments

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that is a really nice bit of kit but it its going to be £400+ there is no point.
I really like the look of that, I think it would even fit in the gap under my LCD screen, which would be a bonus.

£400 is still ok, as long as that is the top end with drive, memory and OS.
Fails without a TV tuner though, in my mind a proper media PC has at least 1 tuner, preferably 2 or 3 so it can act as a proper PVR. Dangling USB tuners off it is not really a good solution.

The great thing about media PCs is that properly configured can replace all your other boxes into 1, tuners, optical disk players and streamers etc.
Add one of these, and you are good to go!

http://shop.blackgold.tv/epages/BT3159.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/BT3159/Products/BGT3595

I would rather add a tuner card than pay for one they decide to integrate to the board.
kingpotnoodle
Fails without a TV tuner though, in my mind a proper media PC has at least 1 tuner, preferably 2 or 3 so it can act as a proper PVR. Dangling USB tuners off it is not really a good solution.

The great thing about media PCs is that properly configured can replace all your other boxes into 1, tuners, optical disk players and streamers etc.

I agree but this is still the closest I have seen to the ideal HTPC. Every depends on noise levels though.

I use a Blu-ray player at moment and I can hear it during the less noisy parts of the film which is not good enough. An HTPC needs to be very very quiet which means that the mounting of the optical drive is critical