Zotac Intros New ZBOX E-Series for Gaming

News
By Kevin Parrish
published

Zotac launched a ZBOX focused on PC gaming, and a nano mini PC with an AMD APU.

ZOTAC introduced on Monday a new line of gaming mini-PCs, the E-Series. This line features Haswell processors and Intel's Iris Pro 5200 graphics that will bring a smooth medium quality gaming experience in a small form factor. The company also introduced the palm-size nano AQ02 Series packing an AMD A8 series APU, promising performance and energy efficiency.

For starters, the E-Series currently consists of the E1750 and the E1730, which features the quad-core Intel Core i7-4770R processor (6MB L2, 3.2 GHz - 3.9 GHz) and the quad-core Intel Core i5-4570R processor (4MB L2, 2.7 GHz – 3.2 GHz), respectively. That's where the differences between the two models stop.

According to the specs, both models provide two 204-pin SO-DIMM slots for DDR3-1600 memory (up to 16 GB). There's also one SATA 3 (6 Gbps) connector and one mSATA (6 Gbps) connector for storage. However, the PLUS models (E7150, E7130) will already have 8 GB of DDR3 RAM and a 1 TB hard drive already installed.

In addition to memory and storage, both models will provide a 4-in-1 card reader, two Gigabit Ethernet ports, on-board Wireless AC and Bluetooth 4.0, two DisplayPort and DVI-O display options, four USB 3.0 ports, HD audio, and analog sound output.

"We've always wanted to create a ZBOX that delivers a good gaming experience but couldn't strike the right balance between size, performance, heat dissipation and energy consumption. Intel's latest Haswell architecture with quad-cores and Iris Pro 5200 graphics hits that sweet spot we need to fit in a ZBOX chassis," said Carsten Berger, senior director, ZOTAC International.

Next up is the ZBOX nano AQ02, also arriving in barebones and PLUS versions. This device sports an AMD A8-5545M quad-core APU (4MB L2, 1.7 GHz – 2.7 GHz) with Radeon HD 8510G graphics. There's also a 204-pin SO-DIMM slot (up to 8 GB) for DDR3-1600 memory, and support for a 2.5 inch hard drive or SSD. The PLUS model comes with 4 GB of RAM and a 500 GB hard drive already installed.

As for the other features, this mini PC provides a 7-in-1 card reader, one SATA 3 connector, one mSATA connector, a Gigabit Ethernet port, onboard Wireless AC and Bluetooth connectivity, DisplayPort and HDMI, four USB 3.0 ports and two USB 2.0 ports.

Zotac did not provide actual availability and pricing.

Kevin Parrish
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10 Comments Comment from the forums
  • jasonelmore
    Considering the CPU has a tray price of $358, i would expect these to retail for around $800 or $900. Then you gotta add in your own Hard Drive and Memory.Expect the versions with memory and hard drive already installed to be around $1100
    Reply
  • jasonelmore
    Ditch dual Ethernet (single gigabit ethernet is fine), ditch both display ports, and put in a couple of thunderbolt ports (same difference, can do both display port and much more)
    Reply
  • XGrabMyY
    Does the Intel model have Iris Pro 5200/5100 graphics? Probably priced similar to the NUC boxes from Gigabyte. My guess is 559 and 659 respectively for the Intel barebones models.
    Reply
  • Kerstin Thomas Hampton
    What would be the performance gap between the Intel/AMD versions?
    Reply
  • waethorn
    Gigabyte has a Brix with a faster AMD quad-core along with discrete graphics. All of Gigabyte's current models support mSATA SSD's. The high-end models (like the one I mentioned) support both mSATA and 2.5" drives, so you could put a good SSD in there and still have room for a ~1TB SSHD for extra storage. Also, the high-end Brix units have WiFi-ac.
    Reply
  • izmanq
    er news for intel type only ? i thought they have AMD too
    Reply
  • JQB45
    er news for intel type only ? i thought they have AMD too
    Izmanq, the title was a bit deceptive but that wasn't the writers fault.The last two paragraphs are useful for AMD info.
    Reply
  • Menigmand
    I'd love to have a tiny gaming PC to mount on the back of my monitor, but it needs just a bit more muscle than CPU/APU based graphics...
    Reply
  • Neog2
    12859943 said:
    To all who think Windows 8 is a great desktop platform, try using Win 8 (or 8.1) without ANY keyboard shortcuts for 1 week and tell me that you still feel the same. No ALT + F4, no WIN + D, no WIN + R, no WIN + E, nothing.... mouse only. Do the same on any other version of Windows and watch how much more productive you are. The reason I say don't use hot keys is because the general users don't use them and don't want to...
    The great thing about a desktop OS is that you can use keyboard shortcuts - Win 8 handles keyboards, touch, and mouse better than windows 7. It's a learning curve that once you get over Windows 8 becomes more efficient even without a ton of keyboard shortcuts. Casual users being lazy to learn hot keys doesn't make the OS worse.In both Win 7 and Win 8 I use the windows key then start typing to search for the app I need to use. Win 8 does this a little better because I can search down to the setting without having to go to say the control panel to switch the audio output from my SPDIF output on the motherboard to the HDMI output. In windows 7 I would follow this process: Win key then search for control panel. Search in the control panel for audio devices then double click audio devices. In 8 I can start typing "Audio" on the start screen, eliminating steps. Then one mouse click to change from searching apps to settings and audio devices is right there. This is one example but universal search in Windows 8 beats 7 hands down if you have a keyboard. Using "Win+Q" searches apps from the desktop and in apps in a metro app like netflix or hulu plus. "Win+F" searches for files while "Win W" searches settings. Even without these specific shortcuts you can just start typing at the start screen and search without any shortcuts from the keyboard, which is awesome.
    Except in windows seven you can just right click on the speaker at the bottom right hand corner of your screen and click playback devices and by pass all that typing. 2 CLICKS
    Reply
  • Max_x2
    12859943 said:
    To all who think Windows 8 is a great desktop platform, try using Win 8 (or 8.1) without ANY keyboard shortcuts for 1 week and tell me that you still feel the same. No ALT + F4, no WIN + D, no WIN + R, no WIN + E, nothing.... mouse only. Do the same on any other version of Windows and watch how much more productive you are. The reason I say don't use hot keys is because the general users don't use them and don't want to...
    The great thing about a desktop OS is that you can use keyboard shortcuts - Win 8 handles keyboards, touch, and mouse better than windows 7. It's a learning curve that once you get over Windows 8 becomes more efficient even without a ton of keyboard shortcuts. Casual users being lazy to learn hot keys doesn't make the OS worse.In both Win 7 and Win 8 I use the windows key then start typing to search for the app I need to use. Win 8 does this a little better because I can search down to the setting without having to go to say the control panel to switch the audio output from my SPDIF output on the motherboard to the HDMI output. In windows 7 I would follow this process: Win key then search for control panel. Search in the control panel for audio devices then double click audio devices. In 8 I can start typing "Audio" on the start screen, eliminating steps. Then one mouse click to change from searching apps to settings and audio devices is right there. This is one example but universal search in Windows 8 beats 7 hands down if you have a keyboard. Using "Win+Q" searches apps from the desktop and in apps in a metro app like netflix or hulu plus. "Win+F" searches for files while "Win W" searches settings. Even without these specific shortcuts you can just start typing at the start screen and search without any shortcuts from the keyboard, which is awesome.
    Except in windows seven you can just right click on the speaker at the bottom right hand corner of your screen and click playback devices and by pass all that typing. 2 CLICKS
    Same thing in Windows 8.1.
    Reply