Dell continues the vision for a Home Theater PC. This started when the Austin-based PC manufacturer released the Dell Studio Hybrid late last year — a small compact unit packaged as a desktop solution with laptop parts. This year we continue to hear whispers about the next step of this project – the Dell Zino HD – which Engadget.com reports about here:
Confirmed specs are scarce, but we’re taking the term “desktop parts” — about the only info Dell will spill so far — to heart. Hopefully this new Zino HD mini PC from Dell can live up to its name and kick the sometimes sluggish, laptop-inspired Studio Hybrid to the curb as Dell’s home theater PC of choice. There’s HDMI, eSATA and USB galore, so that’s certainly a good start. Should ship sometime this fall.
As a follow up, specs are now available, and the project is now divided into 2 models – the Inspiron 300 and Inspiron 400. Take a look at the specs given by the guys at DellZinoHD.com :
Inspiron 300
Intel Atom (no specific), 1GB RAM (Max), 4-in1 memory card slot, 3.5″ SATA HD (no specific size), Super Multi Drive.
NO NVIDIA ION…instead it will have the Intel UMA (crap) and usual ports will include VGA, USB, Audio in/out. This model WILL NOT have the eSata port.
Inspiron 400
AMD Athlon and AMD Athlon X2, up to 8GB of DDR2 RAM, mini PCIe WLAN b/g or b/g/n, Super Multi Drive and Blu-Ray drive options, 4-in-1 memory card slot.
There will be an option for ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4330. The Inspiron 400 will also have HDMI, VGA output, gigabit ethernet and two eSata ports.
Read the full report at DellZinoHD.com.
As you can see, the Inspiron 300 maybe an “LE” model (lower edition) — as it comes with what gamers call as “vanilla” specs — no bells and whistles. The true benchmark of this project will be the 400 model, which actually looks competent right now as a possible Home Theater PC. It even comes with an option for a Blu-Ray drive for Home Theater systems.
Watch out for more on this project from MacPCWiz as details are sure to come soon.
*Credit Engadget and Gizmodo for the images
