This has got to be the cheapest mini-sized Windows box yet. Only drawback is that it does not have built-in WiFi, and that it still has a fan, unlike the latest ZOTAC series.
Hard to go past at this price though if you're in the market for a cheap Windows box. The 2957U is Haswell-architecture too.
CamelCamelCamel.
Even less if you use the Amex deal of free shipping for over $100 US
that definitely works for shipping to OZ ?
Yes.
groovy little box.
cpu is celeron
cpu is celeron
Note that it's a Haswell Celeron, not Bay Trail Celeron that has higher clock speed but is significantly slower.
What can this be used for? Xbmc?
Yes.
Use it for a Plex Server (Y)
Plex will have a hard time with anything that requires transcoding.
According to Plex's server CPU requirements, the Celeron 2957U (1528 Passmarks) barely scaps by the minimum of 1500 PassMarks for a single 720p stream. It won't be fast enough for the 2000 PassMarks recommended for a 1080p stream.
I'm fairly sure that's for outgoing, like the machine that plex is running on.
As far as I know plex transcodes things into a simple format like h.264 or something so that low powered devices can connect to it and play it.
That's why an ipad 2 can play 1080p video over plex despite the obvious inferiority of its processor to a celeron.
Of course I could be way off base, I have been known to go full retard.
@Lief1250: Transcoding is processor intensive, those recommendations don't surprise me. I wouldn't want to use this box for HD transcoding on the fly. Should have no issues serving content "as is", or playing it for that matter.
I'm fairly sure that's for outgoing,
Yes, for a Plex Server, which was what DAOtmc was suggesting above. Something I don't think it's up to, personally.
As a player, it should be ok
Although if someone wanted it just for a Plex/media player, a Roku 3 + $5 Plex app for ~$100 is a much better alternative. Add in Hulu +, Netflix and a DNS service for ~$25/month all up and you've got a pretty good Foxtel replacement. (I love my Roku 3 with this setup, plays all my local media, plus streaming stuff, including 1080p over 802.11n)
Recommended configuration:
Intel Core 2 Duo processor 2.4 GHz
At least 2GB RAM
If we use E6600 as a baseline(1555passmark), this CPU is about on par with recommended specs.
Save yourself $140 and buy a Raspberry Pi to run XBMC.
Might work for some. I wouldn't want to run XBMC on a Pi.
Edit: Did this comment get negged because a Pi is insufficient for my XBMC needs? It is, what's it to you? Feel lucky that a Pi is sufficient for you. ;-)
I have a Pi as a media player in the lounge room. It works okay but it does have its disadvantages. More suits a bedroom over a main media player
No optical which means I listen to stuff in stereo instead of DTS/DD5.1
Its slow and laggy on the interface. Even on low resource skins
It doesn't like library updates when watching media. Often crashes.
Not good with large collections. Over 24 hours to add 500 movies and 100 tv shows just using local nfo and posters/fanart. If I didn't have local fanfare it probably would take a week.
The Pi can't be beaten for price but won't meet everyone's needs
@4agte: There is one thing the Pi does have which is missing in most alternatives, and that's HDMI CEC. Too add this feature to a PC costs you about as much as the entire Pi.
@4agte: I have yet to see someone use optical audio. Did you buy standalone speakers and how much were they? Were they worth it?
Yep that is me. I just use a set of Logitech 5.1. As it is for a study/media room I find these more than enough.
Keep in mind you'll need at least an SD card for the pi. I've heard good reviews of the banana pi. However the support isn't quite as good.
Yeah, fast SD card, decent power supply, it's not that much but it does add up.
I have an AMD A8 PC running XBMC and I'm still not that pleased with its performance.
Save yourself another $100 and buy a chromecast
Cant imagine anything that ships without wifi these days…
It's what initially put me off, but at the current price point it's bearable.
Note that Zotac ZBOX is quite serviceable — standard 2.5" drive & 2x DDR3L SODIMM for up to 16GB of memory. Celeron 2957U should be fast enough for most office/browsing/media consumption tasks.
Any idea if there's a spare SATA Header on the board?
Ideally I'd be plugging in a big HDD to make this an always on Media Server/Player.
EDIT: And is it DVI-I or just DVI-D? I need VGA for my projector (until it dies)
Specification page for BI320:
http://www.zotac.com/products/mini-pcs/product/mini-pcs/deta…
It just says
Hard Drive: Support 2.5-inch SATA 6.0 Gb/s HDD/SSD
Looks like plain old SATA3 with standard connector. Also:
DVI: 1 (single-link)
So no dual link :(
Thanks Scotty, just found similar info here;
http://www.ncix.com/detail/zotac-zbox-bi320-intel-2957u-18-1…
Bugger.. But then again, my old AMD Phenom HTPC lives to fight another day.
Pity it burns so much power, but I'm OK with just turning it on as required.
It's DVI-D, if you look at the "gallery" photo's the four analogue pins are missing.
Thanks, that's a good tip.. never knew there were so many socket variations!
If it were me, I'd have 1 standard socket and just have inactive pins..
@scubacoles: Then people would be scratching their head as to why the cable fits perfectly but the display simply won't work. :)
Do I have to use the same memory (i.e. 2GB+2GB), can I use as 8GB+2GB?
Great deal. I bought one of these 3 months back and it's absolutely fantastic.
I got the barebones kit as I have lots of HDDs and RAM lying around, and paid around $165, which included delivery by PriceUSA as I couldn't find any that would actually ship to Australia.
I'm running Windows 8.1 with 4Gb ram and this thing is really snappy - it would be fine for basic home internet, music, video, etc if you're not a power user.
I have it set up as a fileserver, media server, itunes library, FTP, RDP, etc. Absolutely love it and it's 1000 times better than the little Atom netbook I was previously running.
No HDMI issues like the flashed Chrome Boxes, no messing around, easy to access the insides.
Jump on it, the Haswell Celeron is great, and low power too!
I have an odroid U3 which runs on 3W on idle and 15W at full load but it won't run XMBC smoothly. Any idea what the power usage is like on these units? The alternative is to get an Intel NUC but those are more pricey.
Amazon review says 5W idle, 18W Full Load
http://www.amazon.com/Zotac-Celeron-DDR3L-1600-Windows-ZBOX-…
EDIT: and the same review confirms a second SATA port and room in the case for a second 2.5" drive!
Says the included 64GB SSD is mSATA
if it include mSATA does it also work with just SATA?
@venomx2:
Yes it seems therer's a standard SATA Header on the motherboard to plug in a second drive.
The mSATA socket is filled by the included 64Gb SSD.
Yeah, around 5-12w from what I read.
I think these fill a great gap between the underpowered NUC N2820 and the much more expensive i3 and i5 models. It's a capable little processor.
Plenty of space left in the case after a single HDD installed, though I don't actually recall seeing the second SATA port. They're more Mac Mini sized than NUC sized.
So one of these would be OK for an elderly person who uses it for the Internet and general other "stuff"?
Yeah.. It's just a small PC
Can you plug in two monitors? (one HDMI, one DVI?)
Does it come with Windows 8.1?
Installed on the 64Gb SSD I'm guessing?
Its the bing edition
Yes, "Windows 8.1 with Bing"
TLDR: Microsoft now give away Windows 8.1 with PCs selling for <US$250, on condition that the PC makers don't change the default search engine from bing (but the purchaser can).
Although it doesnt mention it in the specs, I wonder if this PC has Windows 8.1 with Bing version that is available for free installs to OEM, not that it matters much as its identical anyway as far as Im aware.
Sorry for the neg, was just browsing through comments with my phone and must've hit the button by accident. Now it won't let me take it back. :(
Click on votes below the comment and you can revoke your vote
Dupe.
Looks OK, but I am still puzzled that any vendor of any type of computer would ship Windows 8 with 2GB of RAM. It is insufficient.
They're shipping x86 Windows 8.1 tablets with only 1Gb RAM.
Reviews say it does OK.
Wouldn't want to do too much multitasking though.
My 2GB Win 8 tablet disagrees with you. 2GB RAM is perfectly sufficient for Windows 8 if you don't multitask much or do heavy tasks.
No Windows 8 runs fine with 2GB.
I have 2GB on my HTPC running 8.1 Pro, which uses more RAM for Media Center and it runs great.
hmmm guess I didn't need the extra 2GB for my OpenELEC box.
No by all means get 4GB but on a Media Center 2GB runs fine, web everything.
Keep in mind the hard drive is an SSD on a pretty quick sata connector. So the speed of the page memory should be fairly quick.
would the power supply work for us or does it need a transformer?
It's likely to be a switchmode plugpack.. most of them are multi-voltage, but wait on the word from @xdirex who owns one of these already.
From the NewEgg specs:
Power Supply AC 100-240V, 50/60Hz, 19V, 3.42A, Max 65W
So just a cheap plug converter, instead of a new power supply or voltage converter.
Power supply works fine. The pack uses a standard 'clover' 3 pin connector, so you can just use an old aussie laptop power cord into the power pack.
If I wanted access to the net, would i just plug in a wireless usb adaptor? Sorry, just answered my own question.
This looks good for it:
http://www.amazon.com/Edimax-EW-7811Un-150Mbps-Raspberry-Sup…
I'm just curious about the power issue, will an adaptor work or will it need a transformer?
Plug adapter is all you'll need as per Chris McMahon's post above.
Will probably jump on this deal, been looking at getting a HTPC and this fits the bill perfectly. Won't bother about the ram for now, but i've got a spare hdd sitting at home so will chuck that in plus will just buy a wireless adaptor, thanks DarkBlooD for that link.
If I wanted access to the net, would i just plug in a wireless usb adaptor?
Or you could just plug it into your router directly. It has a gigabit ethernet port.
Edit: blahman beat me to it.
Oooo no wifi but at least it has gigabit ethernet. High quality 1080P videos struggle with wireless N anyway (which is what I have).
i thought this was the case, but when i went from XBMC to plex, it transcoded 1080p at highest quality and was really smooth. never had lag. once i went plex ill never go back.
Anyone know how well XBMC runs under windows on this box as is (ie, no upgrades)? I'm currently running OpenELEC on a Raspberry Pi which works fine at the moment, but considering this as an upgrade (for additional functionality, but primarily as an XBMC machine).
Super smooth. I'm running Win 8.1 on this box with 4Gb RAM and it's really quick - you could actually use it as an office machine no problems.
XBMC, plus a whole lot of other services running (iTunes header, fileserver, media server, FTP, RDP, etc).
This is not an underpowered Atom with terrible performance, it's completely smooth.
Should be fine.. I run xbmc (on Ubuntu) on an Athlon X2* from ~2006 and even the bottom end CPU of 2014 should easily overpower it.
(* I've said elsewhere it was a Phenom, but have since remembered that it's not even that!)
What would be better this or a chromebox for xbmc?
Similar in performance, so depends on which one is better suited for your needs and/or cheaper.
No hdmi. So chromebox is better
It has an HDMI port ( one DVI and one HDMI)
There's an HDMI port next to the DVI.
Does anyone know if this is powerful enough to play 3D full bluray ISOs?
Doubt it. InTru3D processor feature is not listed and is usually required.
Is this good enough to run a HTPC with MediaBrowser + Sickbeard + SABnzbd?
yes, might need some more RAM though.
Exactly what I was thinking.
Cheers. I just realised I have to pay extra for Media Center and I won't be able to fit my Hauppage tuner (PCI)
Hi guys
I don't know a lot about technology and stuff
I need to connect something to my tv so that i can
watch american TV like hulu and stuff
download and watch media stored on my portable hardrive
use plex ( i read it on internet that its good )
will this device do all the above ?
thanks
Yes install XBMC onto it and your away
A roku will do similar with easier navigation.
This will need a wireless keyboard/mouse
Not if the app you use (XBMC, Media Centre, whatever) is designed to be used with a remote control.
You'll also be able to do more with a PC than a Roku.
Agreed, but for a non-techie user, I'd recommend a media player with "easy to use" interface and plug and play setup.
@scubacoles: I agree with that, but it doesn't look like the things kkoc3 wants to do are what non-techie people normally do.
It sounds like he's familiar with using a computer (since he has media stored on his portable hard drive), so using a PC with his TV should feel right at home. Hulu would be easy too, with Hola Unblocker.
@scubacoles: OK, we have different definitions then. Non-techie to me are people who just watch TV, like my parents. The most they'd do is TiVo. They have no idea what an MP4 is or how to get them onto a USB hard disk, much less bypassing geo-restrictions to watch this thing called Hulu.
@eug:
What about the non-Techie people who are <35.. There's heaps of them, but very few have any idea that you can hook a computer up to a TV, let alone how to do it.
@scubacoles: If they know about and want to watch Hulu, want to download media to their portable hard drive and watch it on the TV, and are posting the question on a forum, I would assume they're familiar with a computer. Hence I would suggest a PC rather than a Roku.
I have 2 questions here scubacoles and Eug
If i buy a roku 3 and connect (physically) my 4TB hard drive to it ( assuming i can) i should be able to watch content from my hard drive ?
Also will i be able to download content to my hard drive (which is connected to roku3) from my laptop through my wireless connection ?
i am confused
1) Yes, Roku has a USB port for connecting USB drives.
2) No, you'd need to transfer files to the USB drive, or alternatively set up Plex Server on your laptop and "stream" the file from your laptop.
thanks for prompt response
number 1 is good
with number 2 ( if i understand it correctly )
If i have roku3 i will need my laptop on with plex server running on it so that i can stream content to my tv
if i buy this device i would connect this to my tv , install plex on it and connect my hardrive physically to it . Then i can download content to my harddrive either through my laptop or using this device ?
Ends up ~AU $200 including shipping.