Zotac ZBOX ID80 Plus Mini PC Review

Zotac is emerging as a major player in the mini PC market and you'll find a boatload of ZBOX units if you visit the company's website. The one we have with us today is the ZBOX ID80 Plus, one of the newer units built around Intel's recently released Atom "Cedar Trail" refresh. It comes equipped with an Intel Atom D2700 processor, 2GB of DDR3-1066 RAM, 320GB hard drive, and an NVIDIA GeForce GT 520M GPU. There's also onboard Wi-Fi, Gigabit LAN, HDMI output, SuperSpeed USB 3.0 support, and an IR receiver with a media remote bundled in. All this and quite a bit more comes packed in a diminutive box that measures 7.40 inches x 7.40 inches x 1.73 inches that you can plop inconspicuously into your A/V rack or attach to the back of your HDTV via its VESA monitor mount...

Zotac ZBOX ID80 Plus Mini PC Review

Marco Chiappetta

Marco Chiappetta

Marco's interest in computing and technology dates all the way back to his early childhood. Even before being exposed to the Commodore P.E.T. and later the Commodore 64 in the early ‘80s, he was interested in electricity and electronics, and he still has the modded AFX cars and shop-worn soldering irons to prove it. Once he got his hands on his own Commodore 64, however, computing became Marco's passion. Throughout his academic and professional lives, Marco has worked with virtually every major platform from the TRS-80 and Amiga, to today's high end, multi-core servers. Over the years, he has worked in many fields related to technology and computing, including system design, assembly and sales, professional quality assurance testing, and technical writing. In addition to being the Managing Editor here at HotHardware for close to 15 years, Marco is also a freelance writer whose work has been published in a number of PC and technology related print publications and he is a regular fixture on HotHardware’s own Two and a Half Geeks webcast. - Contact: marco(at)hothardware(dot)com