Zotac NANO-AD10-B Z-Box Nano AMD E350 Mini PC (1.6 GHz AMD Dual-Core Processor E-350) 

I purchased the bare bones version of the Zotac Nano as I wanted a larger disk and RAM spec than the prebuilt models. I opted for a 1Tb disk and 4Gb of RAM which I purchased separately (also from Amazon).

The device arrived quickly and promptly and when you see it you realise just how small and compact it is. Building the system was really easy: access to the board is simple and does not ever require a screwdriver as the "feet" on the underside double as thumbscrews and it opens pretty easily although first time it did need a little help to ease apart. Adding the RAM was trivial - it uses laptop style memory with a zero insertion force socket. There is only one RAM socket so my advice is to get the maximum supported memory of 4Gb given how cheap RAM is now. The disk insertion was very easy as well although it does need a fine Philip's screwdriver to secure the restraining metalwork. Overall the physical build took less than 5 minutes.

Unfortunately the software build was not quite so smooth. The system supports 2 USB2 sockets and 2 USB3 sockets. As you look at the back the USB 2 sockets are on the right nearest the edge. It turns out that you need your boot device to be plugged into one of the 2 USB2 sockets where you will also have to plug your mouse and keyboard - to get all to fit into what is effectively only 2 usable sockets I had to hunt out a USB hub to get everything to fit. I used a USB memory stick as boot device and that required a little fiddling in the BIOS to make sure it was recognised: not difficult but did generate some swearing as I delved through the BIOS options. WARNING it will seem as if you can put the boot device into one of the USB3 sockets as the BIOS will recognise it however once the Windows installer is running it will not have the necessary USB3 device driver loaded so you will get an obscure error telling you to insert the driver disk - even if you do it will still fail as the bootstrap installer will not be able to read the disk in the USB3 socket. This caused quite a bit of sharing and is not documented anywhere but once I realised to just say no to USB3 the build went through without incident.

Initially I installed a 32bit version of Windows 7 but once the system was up it became obvious the memory map for 32 bit systems is not good for more than 2Gb of RAM as there was only 2.3Gb of usable RAM. I reinstalled with the 64bit version and a much more reasonable 3.6Gb was usable was available.

Once basic Windows is installed the driver disk is easy to use to install the specific drivers, one small annoyance is that the automatic setup is designed to run off the CD and I had put it in a subdirectory in the USB stick and it generated a error: put all the files in the top level or just use the CD and it works fine. Alternatively all of the sub-directories for different drivers can be installed by hand pretty easily too.

Once running it worked faultlessly except for some niggling issues with the USB sockets. Again it was the USB2 v USB3 thing - I had to download the latest USB drivers from the Zotac website to make them stable and not disappear on return from sleep. This may however have been an interaction with my rather old external USB DVD/CD drive as to make that stable I had to update the firmware from the Samsung site too.

Now running it is an excellent system for use with Windows Media Center although due to the limited numbers of USB sockets you may want to follow my example and get a Bluetooth mini keyboard as once I have two tuners and a 2 socket DVD Drive plugged in there is nowhere for a mouse/keyboard unless you use an external hub. For day to day operation the supplied remote control drives Media Center perfectly so you may just decide to plug in the keyboard if you need to install or change something that requires typing.

All in all I recommend this highly but gave 4 not 5 stars due to the USB issues at install and the lack of documentation about overcoming it.

I bought this for my dad to use as a HTPC and some basic e-mail and surfing. I wanted a box without a pre-installed OS because I had an extra Windows 7 licence and because manufacturers install so much extra rubbish with preinstalled versions of windows. I bought the barebones version rather than the plus because I wanted a bigger hard disk and more RAM. My experience with the installation was very similar to Martin Baines (see his review). I agree that 4Gb of RAM and 64 bit windows is the way to go. Installing the hard disk and RAM was extremely easy (and I'm not a technical person). I also encountered the "install USB drivers" message while installing Windows. There are 2 USB2 ports and 2 USB3 ports, but it appears the Windows 7 installation CD doesn't have USB3 drivers so installation must be done via a USB2 connected device. I have a wireless keyboard & mouse that use a singe USB2 receiver so that left one USB2 port available for installing the OS. I don't have an external DVD drive so I used "Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool" (available for free from Microsoft's website) to create an install disk on an SD card in a USB card reader (can also use a USB flash disk but I didn't have a big enough (>4Gb) flash drive). I then installed Windows without problems from the USB SD card reader connected to the USB2 port.

I'm very happy with the box. I loaded it with XBMC and filled the hard drive with Dad's favourite TV shows and it works like a charm. The 1.6 GHz E-350 is not fast by today's standards but good enough for a HTPC with 720p video files. I'm also very happy with the low noise levels. In short, it delivers exactly what it promises.

Came across this whilst looking for a replacement media player for a Boxee Box which would do HD audio.

Great little item, very compact and easy to set up. There is a fan in it and if you sit close to the unit you can hear it but the speed (and noise) can be adjusted through the BIOS.

Set mine up with an SSD drive so boot time to Windows 7 & XBMC very quick.