Official Dell Zino 410 HTPC - Page 21

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4185/d...10-htpc-review

Nice tear down and analysis.

I have the basic Zino with upgraded CPU. I leave mine on 24x7 and it doesn't get warm. I have it on a shelf. Closed on 3 sides with plenty of room around it. Heat is no issue at all.

I have SageTV and 2 HDHomeRun duals. I've watched one HD OTA show while recording 3 others at the same time without a hitch.

I'm not sure about the difference between the two processors, but I do have a question about them.

Aren't the P340 and P360 a part of the Athlon II series? Dell has them listed as Turion II processors, but every search I run on the P340 and P360 always brings up results on the Athlon II series and not the Turion II series.

Does Dell have these labeled improperly on their website? I am really close to buying a Zino, but I'm a little hesitant that I can't find any mention of a "Turion II P360" on AMD's website. I feel like the processor might actually be an Athlon II, which is a step lower than the AMD Turion family.

I'd appreciate it if someone could clarify this for me.

Did you check the Dell website? It shows this for an upgrade on the basic Zino:


A faster processor increases the efficiency and performance of your applications and operations.


AMD Sempron II V160, 2.4GHz, 512K [Included in Price]
AMD Athlon II X2 P360, 2.3GHz, Dual Core 1MB [Add $25.00]

Yes I got it from the Dell website. If you scroll down to the processor section at the page I have linked below, you can see that they list a variety of Zino's as having a Turion II P360.

http://www.dell.com/us/p/inspiron-zino-hd-410/fs

I know what a processor does, but where I am unclear is whether the Zino's are using an Athlon II or a Turion II. I think Dell has listed this incorrectly, as I don't think a Turion II P360 exists since I cannot find it on AMD's website. I can only find an Athlon II P360.

I would hate to buy a Zino and think I was getting a Turion II when in fact I would be getting a lesser Athlon II. Not that there is a huge difference in the two processor families, but I obviously wouldn't want to find out after buying that I was sold a lesser item than what was advertised.

I spec'd a build on Dell's website and the build sheet says:

"AMD Athlon II X2 P360, 2.3GHz, Dual Core 1MB"

My guess is that the P360 is just clocked a bit faster than the P340 or P320, but no major differences.

I should have told you where I got my quote (which included the explanation of the what a processor does, that wasn't from me )

My quote came from the page used when building the Zino. I didn't link because usually those links don't work. From the link you gave, click customize then Next Option and you'll see the quote I gave you.

Alright. I'm thankful for some of your answers early on... My next post isn't meant to be a war starter or anything.. Just a question.. As I said earlier I'm really looking to turn my Tv into my computer... Basically I stream everything from many sites.. That is my main use as well as surfing the internet.. I have a Budget right now and can't afford to upgrade the Dell Pc as of right now..A loaded Zino HD is around 7-800.... So here are my questions

1. For Streaming purposes, I will be fine right now with the basic Zino from what some of you have said.. But if I decide to get tech savvy and add a bunch of things to this machine am I short changing myself?

2. This is where I don't want to start a war...I don't know much.. Most say the Apple computer is a great unit.. Should I just start saving and get the new mac mini? Or in fact start saving and upgrade the Dell Zino HD??

First, you need to know if you're a "bleeding edge" person or one who prefers to wait until the technology settles in. I'm in the latter group, which in this forum probably makes me the exception.

As a result, i'm not a fan of the concept of "future proofing". In general, I believing in knowing what you need now and buying the minimum hardware needed to support it. That's why I only spent just over $300 for the Zino.

When the technology changes and settles in, I'll buy again. In 2 or 3 years, I'll buy another one for $300. I've found in the long run I've spent less money and experienced less pain.

This strategy has worked for me for but won't for others. It depends on your own philosophy and goals.

Really appreciate the answer... I think that's what I will do... How is your Zino HD working out for you streaming? If you could give me a brief summary it would be great Thanks again

It's working great. I stream Netflix and The Daily Show via Boxee and ESPN2 and foxsoccer.tv via kylo.

I use The Loop for mouse control, which also works great.

Thanks for all of this info David, I've been lurking in this thread a bit and your previous comments have answered all of my questions! I'm planning to buy a Zino for streaming (Hulu, ESPN3, and Dramafever mostly), and as a DVR with one tuner for now. I'll likely go for the $399 model due to wanting wifi (until I run some CAT6 over near the TV), the upgraded processor being thrown in and an extra GB of ram sweeten the deal. I'll be controlling it with my Harmony remote and the air mouse app on the iphone.

I am not familiar with Kylo and after a quick Google search, found out that its a browser built for the TV.

So, is there any advantage of watching ESPN3 with Kylo?

Currently my plan is to just open up espn3.com in IE and set the video to full screen.

There is no advantage to using Kylo other then I find it's an easy "front door" to the Internet for some of the things I stream. I say easy, because the opening screen has large ICONs of the sites and the navigation (back/home/refresh/etc) are large icons, easy to see from across the room. It also can be set to disappear when not use, like the Windows task bar.

I wouldn't be surprised if "normal" browsers couldn't be configured themselves or with add-ons/plug-ins to behave the same. Kylo, however, came that way "out of the box".

Kylo has some other options that you may find of value, I have most everything set to defaults.

One thing I don't like about it is how it behaves when controlled by UltraVNC. Perhaps there is a configuration I'm missing, but when clicking the system button, which controls shutdown, minimize, etc. the subsequent window does not display in UltraVNC.

David James, thanks for your response. I downloaded Kylo and tried it just to see what it had to offer. Pretty good stuff.

Great..I ordered my 410 dual core with blu ray and mxm graphics with 6GB ram on the 27th and every day it has said it was in production with an expected ship date of the 17th. I even checked about 2 hours ago. I happened to look at the outlet a few minutes ago and noticed a quad core with 8GB and the mxm but of cours no remote. I decided to order it and cancel my order from the 27th. Well my order from the 27th is now listed as shipped but now carrier info yet lol. Will I be charged a restocking fee is I can't cancel the dual core order and it gets shipped? Should I just cancel the quad core order?

BTW the Quad core system was approx 570 after tax while the dual core system was 642 after tax...

I got the same but upgraded the the MXM video card. I dont know how advanced you are going to get. I got mine for a living room and had a desktop pc in my bed room at my desk that I had turned into a media center with tuner before. I wanted to share movies and shows wirelessly. the dell 1501 wireless card is not a true N card and can only do 72mbit max. That was not fast enough for streaming .wtv files from the desktop at all, even .mp4 movies were a bit jittery. I had to lean on Dell for a real N card, the DW1520. if you plan to do any seroius wireless networking get the 1520 not the weak 1501 wireless card.

Other than those 2 upgrades I just have the 2.2Ghz AMD dual core and 4 GB of ram, avera media usb tuner and comcast limited basic cable. I do use a harmony for most functions in media center, the harmony needs to be taught the commands. A keyboard is handy for some things and I wish I had a wireless track ball keyboard. Other than that the thing is excelent and had been working well for the last few weeks.

Man, I wish they would ship mine. I ordered the exact same configuration as you originally did. I ordered it on February 23rd and I'm still waiting on them to ship it. It has been "in production" for over a week now. They did move the expected arrival date up one day from March 10th to March 9th, but still haven't shipped it. I was hoping to have it by this weekend, but that doesn't look probable.

I wonder how you got an identical order on the 27th to ship in 3 days and mine is still in production after 8 days? I hate waiting for things!

I'm betting if the status shows "shipped" that you are too late.

No idea maybe your's will move to shipped. I should be getting delivery here on the 10th for the original order adn the 9th for the outlet order


Yeah it looks like you are right. And its a 15% restocking fee "if" I return it..But now both units are showing shipped :O Luckily the gf said she might take the dual core system so I might be able to pilfer the IR unit and use the remote to program my Harmony 900

David James,

There is an app for ESPN3 on Boxee. I have just tried this and works pretty well. If you are interested here is the link: http://thinkonezero.com/projects/boxee/

Follow the instructions on that page and you should be set up in less than a minute. I am starting to like Boxee a lot.

A quick heads up that the Zino 410's have started appearing regularly this week in the Dell Outlet. I had been looking for the past several weeks and there have been none, only the non-410's. Then today Dell emailed a 10% off Dell Outlet coupon. The coupon is only good for the first 2000 uses so it may no longer be good but the code is: 0B9LZ1B4GQ2803.

I received my Zino last saturday - yes, FedEx delivered on saturday. I got the quad core, 1TB, 6 GB with BD and Remote. I had it up and running in less than an hour. I turned off the WIFI and am using a wired network connection. My primary use was to replace my cable/DVR with OTA. I am using an AverTV USB tuner and it is pulling in all the major networks here in the bay area. Crystal clear HD.

WMC is blowing my mind away. Why Microsoft did not market this even more, I have no idea. They have this beautiful thing built into Windows 7 and half of Windows users don't even know about it.

I have done all types of multi-tasking:

- Watching recorder shows while another show is being recorded.
- Streaming over the internet using Boxee while a TV show is being recorded.
- Watching BD (Ironman 2) while a TV show is being recorded.

Its been able to keep up with all this.

I was able to 'clone' the Dell remote into my Harmony 659 remote. I have installed other plug-ins for WMC for YouTube, Boxee and Hulu so I can launch these apps from within WMC.

I discontinued Comcast the day the Zino arrived. Switched to AT&T dry-loop DSL and am saving $80/month.

I am using Boxee instead of Hulu desktop to stream TV shows. I am able to launch it from within WMC and it works great.

The one problem I have is navigating within Boxee with a remote. Boxee recommends hitting the 'Menu' button to go back to the previous screen. Or hitting 'escape' if using a keyboard. Well, when I hit the 'Menu' button, Boxee is shut down and I am back in WMC!

Anyone else have this problem?

Thanks for the link. I tried and it didn't work so well. Going to the forum and I see I'm not alone. It may be a nice alternative once it's working well.

Until I can figure out a way to minimize Boxee, however, I'm not thrilled with it.

good for you being able to cancel Comcast all togther. I wish I could but I can't get verizon to sell me DSL dry loop or with a bare minimun phone service even though my neighbors have DSL. I may be stuck with Comcast for internet. I'm still on cable tv just limited basic clear QAM. I get all the locals in HD and SD most of the side band channels and Cspan, WGN, comcast sportsnet and a few useless shopping channels. I want to go OTA but you need a roof top antenna in my area to get all the major networks and i dont have one yet.

I only use my remote for media center and netflix. I do have Hulu desktop installed but found it easier to use the mouse the small handfil of times I used it.

My zino is Definatly better than the Cisco HD box comcast had given me. that thing locked up all the time or said I was not autharized to view anything. Now I have a great DVR full assess to netflix on my big LCD tv not just bedroom pc. sharing of movies and recorded programes. and it will work the Comcast clear Quam or OTA when I get an antenna installed. I love having the Zino now, best thing I have got in entertainment in a long time.

Its unfortunate that Comcast has a monopoly where you live. Sucks.

I got the 3Mbps for $19.99/month. So far I have been getting 2.5Mbps download speeds. This should be plenty for all streaming.

Will it help if I upgrade to 6Mbps? For Netflix streaming, maybe?

Very much off topic, but if you are in the Bay Area and you are getting Comcast, you can shift to 20 Mbps down / 2 Mbps up for $29.99 (incl. all taxes) if you go with the resellers and a 12 month contract (not get it from Comcast directly). That is what I have

IF you can get 3Mbps DSL for 19.99 that is quite a deal. I am on comcast econony internet which is suppose to be 1.5Mbps down/384Kbps up for $26.99 It works of for streaming Netflix and Hulu though i have not used Hulu much. sometimes it slows when streamin Netflix and it has to buffer again but thats not often and it usually buffers fast at the start. When I have used hulu its fine too. I used to have standard anolog cable before the switch to all digital and after my exjection of the horrable HD box. I watched house hunters on Hulu and it looked way better than HGTV on old standard cable did.

Jakmal is that deal you got the one with the starter self install kit from best buy? I would get that deal but I read the fine print its for new customers only and leaves me to wonder what the second price is going to be after a year and if they will let you have it at that price with out Tv service. Comcast told me if I cancel tv they charge $10 more for all internet services with out a second service like phone or cable tv..... Bastards!!!!

If I could get it verizon is offering 3Mbps DSL for 32.99 with no phone services required in my area. if they would just serve my house like next door and across the street I'd do that once the antenna was up. but for now I am paying 19.99 for tv and 26.99 for internet plus taxes and fees.

No, this was from a reseller who also does installations (local to the South Bay). This is for Internet only, no TV (though I do have a splitter, and end up getting the local OTA channels over the cable too). For more than 24 months, I was paying $64.99 to Comcast for the same speeds, albeit without a contract. I tried chatting with the reps online so many times, but they were never ready to lower the price even though I had the option of UVerse too. By chance, I stumbled upon this reseller through a friend and he had this deal, with the only caveat that I would have to sign a contract. After 12 months, the contract expires, I am free to leave. However, the reseller indicated at the time of signing up that I could extend the contract and retain pricing in the same range.