Dell Release Inspiron Zino HD; Does It Look Like a Mac Mini?

When you first look at the new Dell Inspiron Zino HD you can be forgiven for thinking that it looks very similar to Apple’s Mac Mini, but in a colourful case. But you can’t judge a book by its cover and neither can you judge a mini desktop PC by its colourful plastic case. So under the shiny skin what do you get for your £299.

As the name of the product implies Dell are keen to emphasise the HD (High Definition) aspects of the Inspiron Zino HD and are pushing it primarily as a media centre type device. The power behind the HD graphics is the integrated version of AMD’s Radeon HD 3200, but if you want the best HD experience then you can customise your Zino HD to include the ATI Mobility Radeon 4330 (for £60).

The basic £299 Zino HD comes with a single core AMD Athlon 64 running at 1.6GHz, Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit, to go with the Athlon 64), 2GB of memory, a 320GB hard drive and a 8X DVD RW drive. The basic model doesn’t come with a monitor but Dell will sell you one if you need it. The processor, memory, DVD and hard drive can all be customised at the time of purchase. The default colour is black but if you want one in Tangerine Orange or any other of the nine available colours it will cost you an additional £20.

The best processor in the range is the AMD Athlon 64 X2 running at 1.8Ghz (for an extra £100) and the system can take up to 8GB of memory for £130. A 1TB hard disk will set you back another £70. For an extra £130 you can get a blu-ray drive rather than a DVD RW.

A dual core Zino HD with 6GB of memory, a 1TB hard drive, Blu-Ray and the ATI Radeon HD 4330 (but no monitor) will set you back £709.

The Zino HD is well specced and well priced. If you are looking for a small form factor PC or maybe a second PC to connect up to your HD TV with HDMI then the Inspiron Zino HD could be a good choice.

You can order an Inspiron Zino HD direct from Dell.