Comments for AMD at Home

Comment on Something wicked this way comes…the Dell Inspiron Zino HD by Olivier

Olivier — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 18:02:51 +0000

Thanks a lot for your nice review of a very interesting PC.

I do have a few questions:

- Are you sure the slot for the wireless card is Mini-PCI Express ? It seems Dell only offer Half-Mini cards with that system. Since for some reason my local Dell site only offers the wireless card with $700+ configs, I’d like to be able to add a third-party card, and buy a cheap config

- If I buy a wireless-less config, will the antenna still be included, or do I need to work out one on my own ?

- I’m really unsure if the 4330 is worth it… your test will be very welcome

Again, thank and congratz !

Comment on Something wicked this way comes…the Dell Inspiron Zino HD by the new Dell Inspiron Zino HD mini-PC « scrambles and crumbles

the new Dell Inspiron Zino HD mini-PC « scrambles and crumbles — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 09:10:38 +0000

[...] at Desktoplinux.com which led me further to read the in-depth article by a senior engineer over at amd. I can say that this nice mini-PC, the size of a baseball cap, is on my to-get list. Maybe next [...]

Comment on Something wicked this way comes…the Dell Inspiron Zino HD by John G

John G — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:38:47 +0000

Jay, or anyone,

It looks like my earlier post was somehow lost. I was asking whether the X2 3250e was significantly inferior to the Neo X2 6850e, or if it’s not that big of a deal. I had ordered the Zino yesterday, when the 4330 was available, but they’re not building with it as of today (I’m guessing they’re short on parts.) As a result, I can’t change my order if I want to keep the 4330, but I’d hate to suffer an inferior GFX processor if the difference in CPUs isn’t that great. (I can’t seem to find any real articles about performance on either of the AMD chips.) Thanks in advance.

Comment on Something wicked this way comes…the Dell Inspiron Zino HD by phy

phy — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:27:05 +0000

Hi Jay,

Can you also test the responsiveness of the Media Center interface during music and slide show playback? I just purchased an Acer timeline with the ULV dual-core SU4100 processor, and while the MC menu interface is very smooth, once I start playing music and the album wall of covers begins to animate in the background, the system slows down to an unbearable crawl. Playing a picture slide show also starts smooth but after about 3-4 minutes the transitions with pan and zoom begin to stutter a bit. I wonder if the 3250e or the 6850 have the same problems.

Comment on Something wicked this way comes…the Dell Inspiron Zino HD by John G

John G — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:47:48 +0000

I was wondering how important the differences are between the 3250e and the Neo 6850e are. I already put my order in for the 3250e with the HD 4330. Unfortunately, they’re now out of the 4330’s so I’d have to settle for the integrated card if I changed the CPU. I’m somewhat certain that for most apps, the GPU will be more important than the CPU, especially for Blu-Ray decryption, since PowerDVD has hardware support. Any thoughts?

Comment on Something wicked this way comes…the Dell Inspiron Zino HD by Smith

Smith — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 04:49:20 +0000

It’s really new product and your review is really helpful.It’s long post but perfect write up.

Comment on Something wicked this way comes…the Dell Inspiron Zino HD by CrashX

CrashX — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 01:17:23 +0000

Hi Jay;

I was wondering if you could run 3dmark2001 on it and post your results using 3250e processor and ATI 3200 ?

Comment on Something wicked this way comes…the Dell Inspiron Zino HD by Jay Taylor

Jay Taylor — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:10:50 +0000

Yes, I plan on testing the discrete GPU version. In fact, I just now got it for testing. Results will likely show up in next blog. Stay tuned.

Comment on Something wicked this way comes…the Dell Inspiron Zino HD by drdon

drdon — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:53:46 +0000

Hi, Jay;
thanks for this excellent review of the Zino. I am looking forward to your followup. Will you test the unit with the discrete graphics setup? I want to know how the power supply handles the extra load, especially since there is no fan.

Comment on Something wicked this way comes…the Dell Inspiron Zino HD by Ballgame

Ballgame — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:13:57 +0000

Check # 3 and 4 – I assume I connect those to the TV instead of the Zino?

Comment on Something wicked this way comes…the Dell Inspiron Zino HD by Ballgame

Ballgame — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:27:13 +0000

So I think I have pretty much everything I’ll need to set my system up but I don’t know how to connect every. Would you please advise?

My components include:

46″ Sony Bravia
Sony Bluray player
sony ht-ct100 Sound Bar
Dell Zino
RCA ANT1650 Flat Digital Amplified Indoor TV Antenna
Hauppauge 1200 WinTV HVR-850 HDTV Tuner Stick
Logitech Dinovo Mini remote/keyboard
9 foot HDMI cable
6 foot HDMI cable
3 foot HDMI cable

1. The TV Tuner and Logitech are both USB, so I can simply plug them into 2 of the 4 USB ports on the Zino. Do I connect the TV Tuner to the TV via co-axial?

2. Do I connect the antenna to the TV via optical cable?

3. Do I connect the BD player to the Zino via HDMI?

4. Do I connect the Sony Sound bar to the Zino or TV via HDMI?

5. Do I connect the TV to the Zino via HDMI?

Am I missing any thing (e.g. cables) or have I input things incorrrectly? Sorry for the simple questions but I am a total newbie!

Thanks for the help!

Comment on Something wicked this way comes…the Dell Inspiron Zino HD by Jayshiznit

Jayshiznit — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:40:51 +0000

I convinced the dell rep to throw in the Logitech Dinovo Edge keyboard for 100 bucks which wasnt that bad

Comment on Something wicked this way comes…the Dell Inspiron Zino HD by Andy

Andy — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:37:14 +0000

Also, for those looking for a small wireless keyboard and who already have an iPhone, I’d suggest the “Air Mouse” app. It works with Windows and gets great reviews from those who’ve used it.

Comment on Something wicked this way comes…the Dell Inspiron Zino HD by Andy

Andy — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:31:28 +0000

Jay,
Thanks so much for your blog post. It’s great! Sorry if this has been asked a thousand times, but I’m looking at this system for web video and watching iTunes video downloads. I’m going to upgrade to the 3250 processor, but am I reading correctly that I won’t need to upgrade to the 4330 video card, even to play Hulu 720 and YouTube 1080 videos??

Comment on Something wicked this way comes…the Dell Inspiron Zino HD by Jay Taylor

Jay Taylor — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:44:21 +0000

The HDD drive is a standard 3.5″ drive. The ODD is a standard Slim Line (like on a notebook) tray drive.

5.25″ drives are standard desktop drives. That will not work on this platform. However, as mentioned it is a standard ODD drive. I would think you could find a slim line drive on newegg that might work.

Comment on Something wicked this way comes…the Dell Inspiron Zino HD by Ed

Ed — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:32:34 +0000

There is a great deal on this package now. Visit http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&oc=ddpduy1 and you can get the base unit for $199 with free shipping, AND get a $60 gift card back. I put together a config that bumps the processor to the dual-core 3250e, added Win7 Home Premium, and the wireless b/g/n card and still had it under $300 before the gift card.

Unfortunately, small wireless keyboards are expensive!

Comment on Something wicked this way comes…the Dell Inspiron Zino HD by Nathan

Nathan — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:47:10 +0000

Is the 5.25 drive bay standard size, or does the slim profile mean it requires a custom drive? I’m hoping I can just drop in an extra 5.25 blu-ray drive I have instead of paying for the upgrade.

Comment on Something wicked this way comes…the Dell Inspiron Zino HD by phy

phy — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 07:55:59 +0000

Hi Jay,

Do you know if the wireless n card is dual band?

Comment on Something wicked this way comes…the Dell Inspiron Zino HD by Ballgame

Ballgame — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:47:41 +0000

Any recommendations on a reasonably priced, but effective, usb TV tuner?

Comment on Netflix and Internet TV on Windows® 7, have you seen it? by Jay Taylor

Jay Taylor — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:23:46 +0000

I don’t think the limiting factor here is Media Center. I think this is more of a Netflix decision. They need to choose what content in what formats they want to support on the PC platform.

Comment on Netflix and Internet TV on Windows® 7, have you seen it? by wrong20

wrong20 — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:21:55 +0000

Jay, you may want to note that the Netflix plugin does not display in HD (at least from what I have read)… I was hoping to negate the need for a Roku box with a media center, but it seems that there is a significant difference in quality between the two. Do you have any idea if Netflix in HD is a priority for Windows Media Center?

Comment on Something wicked this way comes…the Dell Inspiron Zino HD by Jack

Jack — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:19:48 +0000

I have been contemplating building a HTPC ever since I came across your part 1 and part 2 HTPC posts a few weeks ago. I’m really curious to try and build my own, but even with newegg combo deals and the like, I’m really struggling to find a DIY option that bests this Zino (set up at about the $400 level – 3250CPU, 500GBHDD, 2GBRAM, Windows7).

Sure there’s lots of posts out there about how to build this or that for $250, but most of them assume you already have operating system disks, keyboards, mice, old cases, just lying around in your closet somewhere. That’s not the case for me.

I’d love to try an AMD product somehow or another, and as much as I’d like to build one, I don’t see how I can do better than this little guy. Maybe I could about equal its performance and end up with a little more room for future upgrades, but it’s going to be a lot of work and it certainly won’t be as nice looking, which should count for at least a little something, even to someone like me who isn’t very picky. Am I wrong?

Also, any recommendation for an external OTA tuner to use with this? I’ve read about a bunch and they all seem a little finicky.

Comment on Something wicked this way comes…the Dell Inspiron Zino HD by Ed

Ed — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:27:13 +0000

>not using HDMI for video, what are the allowed video resolutions?

Your other option is VGA but you don’t get 5.1 sound over it. Dell has the documentation on their web site, but they don’t actually list what the max resolution is.

According to the ATI web site, it says: “Supporting analog displays connected by VGA at all resolutions up to 2048×1536″.

Comment on Something wicked this way comes…the Dell Inspiron Zino HD by Roger

Roger — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:24:46 +0000

I did not see that configuration option, can you tell me how you got to the ubuntu option?

Comment on Something wicked this way comes…the Dell Inspiron Zino HD by Jay Taylor

Jay Taylor — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:25:21 +0000

Will do, in the process of refreshing the load since I have made so many tests/tweaks lately, I want to get back to a clean OS load.