ZOTAC ZBOX nano AD12 PLUS Review

ZOTAC ZBOX's are designed to provide consumers with feature-rich small form factor and low-noise systems to act as either HTPC or in some instances fully-fledged PCs. A wide range of chassis types are available and the vast majority have a variety of mounting options to suit the needs of your front room, bedroom or study. Intel, AMD and VIA -based systems throughout the ZBOX range grant flexibility in choice of CPU and graphics options, unlike many off-the-self competitors. Though generally 'barebones' - i.e. lacking both RAM and HDD - ready-to-go systems (denoted as 'PLUS' variants) can be purchased which include high-quality RAM or HDD.

Reviewed today is the new ZBOX nano AD12 PLUS, an evolution of the AD10 sporting upgraded dual-core AMD E2-1800 APU running at 1.7GHz with HD7340 Graphics based around the A68M platform. The system supports up-to 8GB DDR3-1333 RAM via a single 204-Pin SODIMM Slot, with PLUS models bundling a single 2GB DDR3 SODIMM. Storage is a similar tale - the 2.5" bay supports SATA III 6Gbps drives, allowing the use of either larger mechanical HDDs or the latest ultra-fast SSDs, whilst PLUS models come with a single 320GB 5400RPM HDD pre-installed. These are by no means an exhaustive list of the ZBOX nano AD12, which also includes 802.11n WiFi, MCE remote and IR sensor, Gigabit LAN and Bluetooth 3.0; who says you need desktop size for premium features?