Installing an OS and Using the ZBOX
Again, because the HD-ID11 is a bare-bones PC, there is no operating system provided, so I decided to install Windows 7 Home Premium. Whilst the install was taking place I took the opportunity to visit the ZOTAC website and download the latest drivers and BIOS files for the HD-ID11. ZOTAC provide both a DOS and Windows based flasher utility.
There isn’t a built-in optical drive so to install Windows 7 I could either connect up a USB DVD reader or I could use a thumb drive with the OS on to perform the install. I chose the thumb drive option, because it was easier that digging out the DVD reader!
I was very happy to see that Windows 7 automatically detected the built-in Wireless adaptor and configured it all for me, without me having to supply any drivers (although I had got them all ready just in case).
I did run some of the INF updates and BIOS updates to bring the machine to the latest build version, along with all the usual Windows 7 updates.
Taking a look at information on the CPU shows:
The Windows Experience Index report:
So pretty good for a one year old machine that costs less than £200!
Final Thoughts
The HD-ID11 has been around now for about a year, so it is not the latest and greatest from ZOTAC, but it is a really good little box.
It is very quiet, light-weight so you can easily fit it to the back of a TV or monitor and not worry, and it has lots and lots of ports on it.
It would have been nice to have had a USB 3.0 port, but to be fair, like I said, it is a year old now!
The overclockers amongst you will be happy because the BIOS provides the ability to easily overclock the HD-iD11 sot that you can squeeze that little bit extra out.
The processor is also 64-bit compatible if you wish to use 64-bit software.
I was pleasantly surprised how well it actually played back 1080p HD content, and how nice the Windows Media Center experience was with this machine.
It certainly would make a fantastic addition to a living room, or bedroom if you want a cheap, good and small form factor PC.
As mentioned the price for the bare-bones HD-ID11 is a little under £200, although if you search around you can find it for nearly £160. Add to that £20 for the 2GB of memory and a 2.5” hard drive which are very cheap at the moment, then you have yourself a bargain!
I’m looking forward to comparing this to one of the latest ZOTAC boxes soon.
You can learn more about ZOTAC and their other machines from here
Hi Andrew,
I use one with a 50GB SSD and 4GB 1333 Ram
and dual 22″ 1050 monitors.
works great, i mounted the little guy on the back of one of the monitors so all you see drop down from behind is 3 power plugs
ps it was cool to meet up with Tim at CES. sorry i missed you, lets do lunch next year 🙂
thanks Greg
I really liked the Zbox, and I’m looking forward to getting some more.
And looking forward to finally meeting up at CES next year!
I use this box… I have 3 running with 1 GB 800MHZ DDR/ 8 GB SD card DRive switched the WIFI card to an intel 6300 for Dual Band… XBMC live 10.1 install to wrap it all up. WHS/SQL Source all synced to whs and feed from. beats my old WMC/My Movies impliment by far.
Wish it had internal Remote… but I work around it.
Very Lightwieght/ cool/ quiet/ not too pricey..
They really are cool little boxes – I was very surprised just how good they were!
I’ve got one of these boxes, while I’d agree that for the most part they’re very good, the built in wireless card is awful and would continually freeze and drop the signal even when it was sitting next to the router (Googling seems to indicate I’m not the only one with this problem), while I never intended to use the wireless with this, it would have been nice while I was setting it up.
Also the ION2/Atom combination isn’t capable of handling 1080i, so while you can play Blu-Rays just great with it, you can forget about watching BBC HD or ITV HD with it, which is why my box is now sitting in the kids bedroom.
thanks Paul – I haven’t had those problems myself, but i will certainly keep my eyes open for them.