New Product: Zotac ZBox Mini-Computer

Bill Detwiler at TechRepublic takes a look at the Zotac ZBOX Mini-PC. I’m not linking to this because I like this particular item over all other possibilities, but I think it’s about time we start seeing smaller PCs that take up much less space.

In many of the offices I work with problems with finding the space for work stations are still a major issue. LCD monitors have helped; now it’s time for the towers to go. I’d really like to get one of these for myself, add memory and a hard drive, and install Ubuntu Linux on it.

We’ve moved from the bare bones motherboard with everything else on an add-on card to a much more integrated approach where fewer and fewer people bother with add-ons–they expect the PC to have what they need. In that latter sense, of course, this one doesn’t do the trick. Nonetheless the size and features (other than lacking RAM and hard drive) are good. And if you can manage to add the HD and the RAM yourself, the total cost of the PC will still be quite reasonable.