Gone are the days when a desktop PC meant a huge cabinet and a fat monitor taking up all the space on the table in your room. This is the day and age of the small form factor desktops. All-in-one PCs have provided a good option, and so does the Dell Inspiron Zino. Though not an AIO form factor, it does take up very little space, wherever you keep it.
It looks like a very colourful box, no bigger than a couple of WD 1 TB desktop hard drives put on top of each other. The sides are black in colour, and house all the input ports and the slot load optical drive.
Setting up the Zino for use is quite simple. Hook it up to a flat panel monitor or a television, hide it away somewhere (thanks to its small size) and you are good to go. Don?t forget to connect the wireless keyboard though. Dell does give a 17 inch flat panel monitor as a part of the package, but you may have to spend extra on a wireless keyboard and mouse combo.
The Inspiron Zino is meant for those who need basic computing in a smart looking package that does not take up a lot of space in their home. It is powered by Intel?s Atom N230 processor, 1GB RAM, 160GB hard drive and Windows XP preinstalled. The specs are unassuming and indicate basic computing at its very best. The test results also show that the performance is pretty netbookish. The PC Mark score of 1807 indicates good OS performance, with OS and application freezes not being part of the daily routine. But it is the 3D performance where the Zino takes a beating. A 3D mark score of 88 means that it will not play any 3D games whatsoever, thanks to the integrated graphics. Value for money? Absolutely, if you want a PC for basic usage. It will act as an HTPC quite well, but don?t expect to play any games on it. This one, at this price, is a great deal.
? CyberMedia http://www.LD2.in Mail: talkLD@cybermedia.co.in