Broadwell kicks off Zotac's M-Series
As one of the more active players in the mini PC market, Zotac today announced the introduction of its new M-Series Zbox mini PC models with processors based on Intel's 14nm Broadwell microarchitecture inside. There are two models to begin with, the Zbox MI522 Nano and Zbox MI542 Nano, both of which measure a super scant 5 inches by 5 inches by 2 inches (127mm by 127mm by 45mm).
Several of today's mini PCs are surprisingly powerful, considering their tiny footprints. And on paper, Zotac's new MI522 and MI542 Nano boxes seem like strong contenders for secondary PCs, or primary systems for people who don't need a ton of computing power.
The only difference between the two systems is the processor -- the MI522 sports an Intel Core i3 5010U processor, a dual-core part clocked at 2.1GHz with Hyper Threading support and 3MB of cache, while the MI542 features a Core i5 5200U, also a dual-core chip, but clocked at 2.2GHz to 2.7GHz. Both lean on Intel HD Graphics 5500 (300MHz to 900MHz) for graphics chores.
Other specs include two DDR3-1600 slots with support for up to 16GB of RAM, 2.5-inch SATA HDD/SSD bay, 3-in-1 memory card reader, 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity, four USB 3.0 ports, a single USB 2.0 port, GbE LAN port, and HDMI 1.4a and DisplayPort 1.2 outputs. Plus version of each model also come with 4GB of DDR3 memory and 500GB of internal storage (HDD).
One thing to keep in with these systems is that they don't come with an operating system, nor do they have an optical drive bay. That means you'll either need an external optical drive or a USB drive to install an OS. Also, in my experience with Zotac's small box systems, an SSD is a must.
No word yet on price or availability.
Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook
from http://bit.ly/1CptTcW
