Published in News

Zotac ZBOX gets Broadwell makeover

by on09 April 2015


14nm silicon coming to ZBOX Nano

Zotac’s ZBOX mini PCs are getting some fresh silicon, in the form of 14nm Intel Broadwell parts. 

The first to models to get the latest Intel chips are the ZBOX MI522 and MI542. We won’t waste much time talking about the design of Zotac’s mini PCs, since it hasn’t changed in years. 

However, the company regularly updates the internals, so the new MI522 is getting a dual-core Core i3-5010U processor clocked at 2.1GHz. The MI542 is going upmarket with the Core i5-5200U processor, clocked at 2.2GHz (2.7GHz on Turbo).

We’ve reviewed a number of Zotac mini PCs over the years and we have a rather good opinion about them. Our only complaint is the fact that Zotac doesn’t redesign the boxes – even cars don’t sell five years without a mid-life redesign or a whole new design.

As usual, the new Broadwell ZBOXes will be available as barebones and as complete Plus models. You get two DDR3 SODIMM slots, 2.5-inch drive bay and the latest connectivity options you can imagine.

Of course, we’re fans of barebones, for a number of reasons.

You can check out the full spec on Zotac’s product page

Last modified on 09 April 2015
Rate this item
(2 votes)

Read more about: