Dell Zino HD as media PC

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OK guys, the quest for a media PC continues... I'm looking at the Dell Zino HD - as can get one with Blu-ray drive, 1TB disk, HDMI, 6GB memory and ATI Radeon GPU with 512MB of memory - for just under £600

Question is, should I go for it? The plan is to put it in my AV cupboard and use it to rip CDs (et al.), stream video to my Kuro and act as the share for my Sonos. Down the line I'll get a big NAS - but the 1TB disk will do to start. Is it going to be too noisy, should I go for something else? Is it too noisy?

Comments / suggestions / experiences of the Zino welcomed.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

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OK guys, the quest for a media PC continues... I'm looking at the Dell Zino HD - as can get one with Blu-ray drive, 1TB disk, HDMI, 6GB memory and ATI Radeon GPU with 512MB of memory - for just under £600

Question is, should I go for it? The plan is to put it in my AV cupboard and use it to rip CDs (et al.), stream video to my Kuro and act as the share for my Sonos. Down the line I'll get a big NAS - but the 1TB disk will do to start. Is it going to be too noisy, should I go for something else? Is it too noisy?

Comments / suggestions / experiences of the Zino welcomed.

Scene, did you get one? I'm looking at getting the new 410 version as I desperately want to use J River for my music library instead of my Popcorn Hour. Any negatives? I also plan on using it as a bluray player and mkv player until I go all 3D.

 

[scene]

Yeah, I did get one - a Zino HD. It's reasonably quiet and dinky - go for the HS WiFi card, I didn't

. Noise: Less than my V+ HD box. HD: I've only been running it to a 1080i screen, but it plays DVDs (including locally ripped ones - as a test) well, Blu Rays OK too. Can't comment on HD sound, unfortunately, as there is only phono out (two channel) or HDMI - and I have no amp with an HDMI in

- I'm planning to get one for the extension.

I like it for what it is - I got one with a 1TB disk, so lots of space, and a bluray drive. The BluRay drive is like the one from a laptop, so a bit flimsy. For music ripping, it's great.

I'll try to find the full spec when I get home - if I can find it

- It's a Zino HD with HDMI out and the separate (non-motherboard) video card - can't remember if that makes it an 400 or 410...
EDIT: I believe I promised to give a full review as well...

 

[Gerrardasnails]

scene:Yeah, I did get one - a Zino HD. It's reasonably quiet and dinky - go for the HS WiFi card, I didn't

. Noise: Less than my V+ HD box. HD: I've only been running it to a 1080i screen, but it plays DVDs (including locally ripped ones - as a test) well, Blu Rays OK too. Can't comment on HD sound, unfortunately, as there is only phono out (two channel) or HDMI - and I have no amp with an HDMI in

- I'm planning to get one for the extension.

I like it for what it is - I got one with a 1TB disk, so lots of space, and a bluray drive. The BluRay drive is like the one from a laptop, so a bit flimsy. For music ripping, it's great.

I'll try to find the full spec when I get home - if I can find it

- It's a Zino HD with HDMI out and the separate (non-motherboard video card - can't remember if that makes it an 400 or 410...
EDIT: I believe I promised to give a full review as well...

From the date of your original post, I think yours must be the 400. I'm looking at one with an AMD Phenom quadcore, 1tb hdd, 1gb graphics card, THX integrated audio card and 8mb of memory for about £679.

 

[scene]

Gerrardasnails:scene:Yeah, I did get one - a Zino HD. It's reasonably quiet and dinky - go for the HS WiFi card, I didn't

. Noise: Less than my V+ HD box. HD: I've only been running it to a 1080i screen, but it plays DVDs (including locally ripped ones - as a test) well, Blu Rays OK too. Can't comment on HD sound, unfortunately, as there is only phono out (two channel) or HDMI - and I have no amp with an HDMI in

- I'm planning to get one for the extension.

I like it for what it is - I got one with a 1TB disk, so lots of space, and a bluray drive. The BluRay drive is like the one from a laptop, so a bit flimsy. For music ripping, it's great.

I'll try to find the full spec when I get home - if I can find it

- It's a Zino HD with HDMI out and the separate (non-motherboard video card - can't remember if that makes it an 400 or 410...
EDIT: I believe I promised to give a full review as well...

From the date of your original post, I think yours must be the 400. I'm looking at one with an AMD Phenom quadcore, 1tb hdd, 1gb graphics card, THX integrated audio card and 8mb of memory for about £679.
Sniff - THX integrated audio card and a quad core Phenom! Probably eat mine for dinner. Would think it would fly, and fry eggs...

 

[scene]

Yep, you were right of course - it was a Dell Zino HD 400 - with AMD X2 6850E 1.8GHz processor, with 512k cache, an ATI Radeon HD 4330 with 512MB memory and 6GB total of RAM. The sound card is only a 2.1 integrated - a full fat 5.1 card would be nice, but I'm hoping to offload the HD sound via HDMI in due course, as I said.

I went for full on Windows 7, 64 bit professional, as I felt this gave the most scope for expansion, and I was (am?) considering doing something clever with MyMovies with maybe a VM install on the machine.

Your 410 sounds great, though I would think maybe a little extra memory wouldn't go amiss...

 

[Gerrardasnails]

scene:Yep, you were right of course - it was a Dell Zino HD 400 - with AMD X2 6850E 1.8GHz processor, with 512k cache, an ATI Radeon HD 4330 with 512MB memory and 6GB total of RAM. The sound card is only a 2.1 integrated - a full fat 5.1 card would be nice, but I'm hoping to offload the HD sound via HDMI in due course, as I said.

I went for full on Windows 7, 64 bit professional, as I felt this gave the most scope for expansion, and I was (am?) considering doing something clever with MyMovies with maybe a VM install on the machine.

Your 410 sounds great, though I would think maybe a little extra memory wouldn't go amiss...

I haven't ordered it yet but I got a new job today so will order it next week. I won't be doing anything on it apart from a bit of surfing and using it as a media centre. My home pc only has 4mb of memory so 8 will be plenty. Dell has really upped the spec though which is good. Thanks for the info Scene. My main worry was the noise as my Popcorn Hour is silent.

 

[scene]

Sorry - misread the memory as 2GB!

It's not silent - as I said - but the fan noise is no worse than the cable box. I think it's a great little unit - and the new one sounds even better!