ZOTAC ZBOX Bluray AD03 (ZBOX-AD03BR-PLUS-U) Review

KitGuru has reviewed many Fusion products in recent months, but the ZOTAC ZBOX AD03 (plus Bluray) is one of the first ‘ready made' systems we have been offered for review. It is a gorgeous design which will look great in a living room environment next to a television or in an equipment rack. We particularly like the soft blue lighting and fully featured array of connectivity, especially the inclusion of eSATA and multiple USB 3.0 ports.

AMD's E-350 APU is one of our favourite low power designs as it is more capable than Atom processors in the same price range and generates very little heat when loaded for long periods of time. Even the Atom D525 struggles to keep up with a 200mhz clock advantage and extra virtual cores. This translates to real world, noticeable differences, particularly when undergoing more intensive tasks, such as encoding video.

Of particular note is the cooling system that ZOTAC have incorporated, because it cleverly generates very little noise while delivering a solid flow of cool air across all of the internal components.

The ZOTAC ZBOX AD03 will be an ideal high definition partner for an enthusiast user who has no interest in building his (or her) own Fusion system, but who also won't want to compromise with styling or build quality.

The ZOTAC ZBOX AD03 costs £419 inc vat, which is good value for money, especially with the inclusion of a Bluray drive.

Pros:

• excellent build quality
• chassis design is gorgeous
• loads of connectivity, including multiple USB 3.0 and a high performance eSATA port
• emits very little noise
• low power drain
• runs cool
• bluray drive

Cons:

• 4GB of ram would have been nice
• hard drive isn't fast

KitGuru says: An excellent system build and easily accessed for memory or hard drive upgrades.

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