Re: Apple Mini is so bad, Dell has copied it.

On 11/12/2009 2:00 PM, Lloyd Parsons wrote:

No bluetooth, not even an option.

Unnecessary. Bluetooth for desktops is an overrated and a mostly useless feature anyway.


sound limited to 2.1 audio, so poor for HTPC

Not that big of a deal. For <$40.00, a 7.1 USB sound device can be added.



Slower processor

Any disadvantage is easily offset by the fact that the Zino has a dedicated graphics option w/up to 512MB of memory as opposed to the Mini's 256MB of shared memory nVidia 9400 IGP option.


But you get faster HD.

Not bad, just not great.

I'd say its very _comparable_. Not decidedly better or worse either way (overall), nor is it a Mac Mini "killer" per se, but very comparable.

I did a quick comparison of the two configured as closely as possible with the available factory options, and here is what I came up with:



Mac Mini for $799.00:

Mac OS X Snow Leopard
2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4GB memory
320GB hard drive
8x double-layer SuperDrive
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics

Cons:
Shared memory for graphics
No Internal Blue Ray drive
Memory expansioon limited to 4GB



Dell Zino HD system for $704.00:

Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit
AMD Dual Core Athlon™ Neo X2 6850e (1MB L2, 1.8GHz)
4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz- 2 DIMM
320GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive
Blu-ray Disc (BD) Combo
ATI Radeon HD 4330 512 MB
Integrated 2.1 High Definition Audio
Dell 1520 802.11 b/g/n wireless card
GbE networking

($40.00 more will get you a USB 7.1 sound card
for HTPC use)

Cons:
No Bluetooth
Slower CPU





Flint


.

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