Inspiron Zino HD AMD Athlon™ 2650e (512K L2, 1.6GHz) Genuine Windows Vista® Home Basic SP1, 32-Bit No Monitor 8X DVD+/-RW Drive 2GB1 Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM2 at 800MHz- 2 DIMM 250GB3 7200 RPM4 SATA Hard Drive Integrated ATI Radeon HD3200 Graphics Integrated 2.1 High Definition Audio 1 Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty,5 InHome Service after Remote Diagnosis
Also see this information to bring the price down as well as get a $60 gift card: A deal on this already. Better CPU, free shipping, and $29 off. Oh, and if you leave the base OS (Vista Basic) you will get a $60 gift card, otherwise you get 60 MP3's and a free year of Napster streaming.
Tech specs say it can be configured with Ubuntu, but this isn't available for me when I configure one. Possibly more savings if you talk to a Dell rep and they remove the Vista license from the cost so you can run Ubuntu.
This really isn't a hot deal. This is the normal price and nothing special to see here. It's a single core and won't do 1080p video. XBMC is one of the most popular with Media Portal and Meedios and none of them will do 1080p bluray or mkv out of the box.
prologix said: This really isn't a hot deal. This is the normal price and nothing special to see here. It's a single core and won't do 1080p video. XBMC is one of the most popular with Media Portal and Meedios and none of them will do 1080p bluray or mkv out of the box.
To browse the web sure but hardly a hot deal.
Also, you can't get a tuner card for this, at least not yet.
RalphKaz
Ancient Member
posted: Nov. 17, 2009 @ 1:40p
whats the minimum specs in order to record two HD shows at once (using HDHomeRun QAM tuner) while watching a 3rd (previously recorded)?
hanma said: prologix said: This really isn't a hot deal. This is the normal price and nothing special to see here. It's a single core and won't do 1080p video. XBMC is one of the most popular with Media Portal and Meedios and none of them will do 1080p bluray or mkv out of the box.
To browse the web sure but hardly a hot deal.
Also, you can't get a tuner card for this, at least not yet.
Shhh...don't tell anyone I told you this, but you can get a USB tuner or a network based tuner.
Specific deal or not, I consider this to be pretty hot for a starting price on a new rig with the stats and potential that this thing has.
jdim05
Member
posted: Nov. 17, 2009 @ 2:12p
I chatted with a Dell rep and he told me that he is unable to order a system with Ubuntu on it yet and he doesn't have an official date for it yet either.
Anybody know whether the CPU is upgradable in this unit? If so, what options are not to make the unit too hot?
kb7sei
New Member
posted: Nov. 17, 2009 @ 3:30p
If this thing had an NVidia chipset, it would be extremely nice for HTPC users. But ATI doesn't do hardware decoding on the more widely used HTPC platforms (if it does at all). I'd go with the Aspire Revo for media stuff before this thing any day of the week. The ION chipset rocks at dealing with HD content. If Dell put an NVidia 8000 or newer video chip on there, and perhaps a built in IR receiver, I know a lot of people into Myth, XBMC, Boxee, and others would be very interested in these boxes.
insomnious
Geeky member
posted: Nov. 18, 2009 @ 12:02a
A deal on this already. Better CPU, free shipping, and $29 off. Oh, and if you leave the base OS (Vista Basic) you will get a $60 gift card, otherwise you get 60 MP3's and a free year of Napster streaming.
You know, if CPU's get any more crappy we'll be back to the venerable 80386@25MHz in no time. Look out 1990, here we come.
insomnious
Geeky member
posted: Nov. 18, 2009 @ 12:14a
kb7sei said: If this thing had an NVidia chipset, it would be extremely nice for HTPC users. But ATI doesn't do hardware decoding on the more widely used HTPC platforms (if it does at all). I'd go with the Aspire Revo for media stuff before this thing any day of the week. The ION chipset rocks at dealing with HD content. If Dell put an NVidia 8000 or newer video chip on there, and perhaps a built in IR receiver, I know a lot of people into Myth, XBMC, Boxee, and others would be very interested in these boxes.
I believe AMD does hardware decoding now with the new flash 10.1 beta that was released today for Windows. I did order one, may pick up another. Since I don't have it yet I couldn't say for sure how well it's going to do at that. I ordered an upgraded version with the discounts I mentioned above. Without any upgrades at all you're looking at only a $140 bucks after the GC and before tax. To me that's an impulse buy when it comes to an entire computer. Well worth just having it as an extra toy to play with. I'll find some use for it or eventually give it to someone so they can surf the web or whatever.
UpfrontBroker
Member
posted: Nov. 18, 2009 @ 1:55a
Well I have an Athlon 1500 XP from many years ago with a Radeon 9600 that will playback OTA (Mpeg2) shows in 1080i at around 25-40%. VC1, H264, wil take a alot more decoding power but the 3200 should have full video acceleration for those file types.
UpfrontBroker
Member
posted: Nov. 18, 2009 @ 1:56a
insomnious said: A deal on this already. Better CPU, free shipping, and $29 off. Oh, and if you leave the base OS (Vista Basic) you will get a $60 gift card, otherwise you get 60 MP3's and a free year of Napster streaming.
A deal on this already. Better CPU, free shipping, and $29 off. Oh, and if you leave the base OS (Vista Basic) you will get a $60 gift card, otherwise you get 60 MP3's and a free year of Napster streaming.
This makes it $199 -$60 gift card - shipping = $139 + tax on $199. Not too shabby. Got one with the x2 processor upgrade for $30. Thanks for sharing this URL.
Now this would be a deal but still it will not do 1080p on XBMC in windows. The processor is too weak even with the upgraded one. How do I know this??? Because I have an HP slimline with an AMD x2 2.6ghz and it does not do 1080p mkv's in windows with either an ATI or Nvidia card. NOW with that being said. IT WILL do 1080p in XBMC Linux or if I use a 3rd party video player with the much much much better softare codec from Core AVC.
Also another point to make is that the Gift card is NOT cash or a Visa gift care. It is a Dell giftcard.
prologix said: Now this would be a deal but still it will not do 1080p on XBMC in windows. The processor is too weak even with the upgraded one. How do I know this??? Because I have an HP slimline with an AMD x2 2.6ghz and it does not do 1080p mkv's in windows with either an ATI or Nvidia card. NOW with that being said. IT WILL do 1080p in XBMC Linux or if I use a 3rd party video player with the much much much better softare codec from Core AVC.
Also another point to make is that the Gift card is NOT cash or a Visa gift care. It is a Dell giftcard.
Chuck101 said: prologix said: Now this would be a deal but still it will not do 1080p on XBMC in windows. The processor is too weak even with the upgraded one. How do I know this??? Because I have an HP slimline with an AMD x2 2.6ghz and it does not do 1080p mkv's in windows with either an ATI or Nvidia card. NOW with that being said. IT WILL do 1080p in XBMC Linux or if I use a 3rd party video player with the much much much better softare codec from Core AVC.
Also another point to make is that the Gift card is NOT cash or a Visa gift care. It is a Dell giftcard.
True but the now $139 is a little misleading don't you think? Saying "Now $139 after Dell Gift Card" to me would imply you can use the gift card on the purchase which you can not. I just confirmed with Dell that it is for future purchases only. I'm just trying to be informative here not trying to hijack your thread. It's more about ensuring that people who jump on this deal for a HTPC know what they are getting themselves into. I've build over 30 HTPC over the past 2 years for myself and friends and family and have a fairly decent background in the IT field and I've been burned before by the marketing blitz of the "HD" word. It takes alot more processing power than you think without GPU assistance.
Alot of people think GPU assistance also works on all forms of HD and that's not true. The nvidia's and ATI's of the world use GPU assistance for VC1, Bluray etc... Alot of people I've seen wanting to purchase either play mkv's or non assited or accelerated files and this demands a higher performance CPU.
Also to note is that this only has 2.1 audio and does not do 7.1 sound. Those looking for an HTPC will most likely be served by looking elsewhere, but those looking for a minimalistic approach to a full desktop, such as a kitchen pc, or something to play dvd's in a childs room or bedroom would enjoy the form factor.
It depends on many factors of course and this isn't the forum to go into specifics but on the surface this deal is still just luke warm.
HD as in HTPC or not, this is a computer and at $139 after it is all said and done is a deal. Especially when I almost bought one yesterday for $229. Thanks for the input however. Hopefully it helps others out. Since it has no TV tuner built in, I am not sure how great of a HTPC it would be anyways.
UpfrontBroker said: insomnious said: A deal on this already. Better CPU, free shipping, and $29 off. Oh, and if you leave the base OS (Vista Basic) you will get a $60 gift card, otherwise you get 60 MP3's and a free year of Napster streaming.
Go to detail view in the cart and see this section: Miscellaneous $60 Dell Promo Gift Card - Arrives in 6-8 wks, carries a 90 Day Exp. Dell.com/giftcard
TellyTubby said: You know, if CPU's get any more crappy we'll be back to the venerable 80386@25MHz in no time. Look out 1990, here we come. You talking nonsense again!
Mong said: Well I went back again to check and not only did they remove the $60 GC but they raised the price to $269.
Yeah right Dell, I didn't bite at $140 I sure won't bite at almost twice the price.
Well it has been over 5 hours since my order was acknowledged but no order confirmation. Went to my order status and it shows as pending with no info on the order.
So I think it's another Dell pricing error they will not honor. Dell sucks as they always pull this crap on Canon camera deal couple of months ago and Vizio TV deal earlier this year.
I'm so sorry I didn't screen capture or print this out. I canceled my order ($1800 in total with other stuff). Looks like I'll see what they serve up for cyber Monday.
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