Dell introduces colourful Zino mini PCs

Posted on 12 Nov 2009 at 12:38

Dell has launched its new Inspiron Zino series of nettops and mini PCs. The new Zino mini PCs are slightly bigger than Apple's Mac mini, so they're around the size of a lunchbox. The Zino is available as either a nettop or as a more powerful dual-core PC capable of playing high definition video.

The Inspiron Zino nettop has an Intel Atom 230 processor, 1GB of RAM, a Radeon HD 3200 integrated graphics and has a built-in DVD writer. Unlike the Mac mini, it has a built-in memory card reader. Windows XP is pre-installed on the 160GB hard disk. It's only available in black and Dell doesn't offer Windows 7 with this model, but it costs only £250 inc VAT and delivery.

The Zino HD is exactly the same size, but comes in a choice of different colours. These look similar to Dell's laptop lid designs but cost £20 more than just sticking with the standard black colour.

The exact price depends on the specification you choose, but the cheapest £299 Zino HD has a 1.6GHz Athlon Neo processor, an integrated Radeon HD 3200, 2GB of RAM and Windows 7 Home Premium pre-installed on the 320GB hard disk. We suspect this version won't be much more powerful than the Atom-equipped Zino though.

We suspect you'll need one of the more expensive models which have more powerful Athlon X2 processors and dedicated Radeon HD 4330 graphics chips, as well as more RAM and hard disk space, to play HD video. A version equipped with a Blu-ray drive, 6GB of RAM and a 1TB hard disk costs £719. All Zino HD PCs come with built-in wireless networking, gigabit Ethernet and eSATA ports unlike the standard Zino.

We'll bring you full reviews of the new Zino range as soon as they arrive in our Labs.

Author: Alan Lu

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