Zotac ZBOX HD-ID11-U Next-Generation ION Nettop

Introduction

Known mostly for the company's line of NVIDIA-based GeForce graphics cards and motherboards, Zotac maintains robust manufacturing and R&D operations overseas, including 40 surface-mount technology lines and over 9 million square feet of production space.

Zotac provided us with one of its ZBOX units, the HD-ID11. This small form-factor (SFF), energy efficient nettop machine comes with an integrated processor, cooler, and graphics/audio solution. You just provide the hard drive and RAM. As most of us have experienced, "energy efficient" often translates into "underwhelming performance," but this doesn't always have to be the case.

Let's take a look at the ZBOX.

Specifications, Pricing and Availability

Here is the ZBOX HD-ID11 spec sheet from Zotac's website:

An Intel Atom D510 1.66 GHz dual-core chip provides processing duties and the ZBOX accommodates a standard 2.5-inch SATA notebook drive.

The ZBOX is available from a variety of online retailers including Amazon, Fry's, and Newegg. Prices hover in the $220 - 250 USD range, sometimes with a mail-in rebate. While that's quite a bargain, keep in mind that you'll have to supply the RAM, hard drive, and operating system, which tacks on some extra expense.