A peek inside
Remove the hood and the diminutive ZOTAC board takes centre stage. It's actively cooled here and cannot be disconnected without compromising stability.br>
The only expansion on the board is with the mini-PCIe slot, which is taken up by an AzureWave 802.11b/g/n WiFi module.
Small and feature-packed as the board might be, there's still room for two regular DDR2 sticks, filled with a total of 4GB of Corsair PC-6400 DDR2 RAM.
ZOTAC eschews regular PCIe expansion slots, leaving the ION graphics as the only choice. Bear that in mind if considering upgrading the box.
See how much space we have on this side? Scan sensibly adds in a 1TB of storage from Samung's Eco Green F2 range. The drive isn't the fastest, and doesn't need to be, yet it's quiet when seeking.
It's just a shame that SSDs still remain so (relatively) expensive; the system is positively crying out for one. We'd rather have 1TB of capacity in this case, because the recording and storing of programs is of paramount importance.
Here's the Compro media-centre remote and USB-powered TV tuner we alluded to on the previous page, along with the WiFi aerial and various other cables.
The remote's a bit clunky to use, especially with Media Centre in Microsoft Vista, and we'd be tempted to put on Windows 7 RC.
As an HTPC it's only fitting that it's evaluated in the correct environment. Do you see it? Enlarge the picture and it's right in the middle, just above a Sky HD box and Sony Blu-ray player.
Tellingly, it passes the 'wife test', where she doesn't notice another addition to the cabinet, intimating that it fits in well.
