 "CES 2013: ZOTAC showcases updated ZBOX mini-PCs")
ZOTAC has kicked off its own showing at the ongoing CES with a new third generation ZOTAC ZBOX along with a new refreshed second generation ZBOX mini-PC. Both of the ZBOXes are equipped with Intel Core processors for performance.
The company claims that the third generation ZBOX is the biggest evolution of the ZBOX since the company introduced it three years ago. It is now 7 mm thicker than the previous iterations to accommodate newer high-performance components. The network connectivity has gotten an upgrade with the ability to have dual gigabit Ethernet ports that allow teaming, and dual external Wi-Fi antennas to support better networking. It is also equipped with Bluetooth.
“After many years of research and development, ZOTAC is able to integrate desktop components and discrete graphics into our award-winning ZBOX mini-PC for greater flexibility and performance capabilities,” said Carsten Berger, Marketing Director, ZOTAC International.
The company is updating its ZBOX line-up
The ZBOX has also received an enhanced cooling subsystem with triple the ventilation area for better cooling of the device while still being as quiet as it can be.
The biggest addition to the ZBOX in its third-gen iteration is the Nvidia Ion. It sports a dual-core Intel Core processor and an Nvidia GeForce GT 610 GPU for increased performance.
The NVIDIA GeForce GT 610 graphics processor enables hardware decode acceleration of popular high-definition video formats including Blu-ray 3D, outstanding video processing for phenomenal video playback and bitstream audio output capabilities for crystal clear, loss-less surround sound. The Intel Core processor provides lightning-fast system responsiveness and additional horsepower to decode new 10-bit video formats such as Hi10P without a single dropped frame.
“ZOTAC continues to impress us with their dedication to the home theater PC and continual advancement of mini-PC hardware capable of handling the latest and greatest features of OpenELEC,” said Stephen Raue, Main Developer and Founder, OpenELEC. “We have no doubt the new 3rd Generation ZOTAC ZBOX with NVIDIA GeForce GT 610 graphics is ready for the new HD audio and Hi10P video capabilities of the upcoming XBMC 12.0 Frodo-based OpenELEC 3.0 release.”
The new second-generation ZOTAC ZBOX with Intel HD Graphics 4000 rounds out the ZBOX line-up from ZOTAC for CES 2013. It now features a 3rd Generation Intel Core i3 3120M processor. The company claims that the addition of the Intel HD Graphics 4000 GPU gives it nearly twice the 3D performance compared to machines running on an Intel HD Graphics 2500.
According to the company, the boost in performance lets the new ZBOX transcode videos up to 75 percent faster than previous iterations.
The ZOTAC ZBOX mini-PCs also seem to have gotten an upgrade, as even a barebones ZBOX ships with Intel Core processors. A PLUS model comes with memory and hard drives pre-installed.
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