Zotac’s Zbox Nano AD10 nettop won an Editor’s Choice award back in August. Take one look at the thing, and it’s easy to see why. The AD10 is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, it’s available in pre-built and barebones configurations with easily accessible internals, and there’s a potent AMD E-350 APU under the hood. No wonder the $220 barebones version quickly went out of stock at Newegg.
If you don’t need something quite as fast as the E-350—or with nearly as good of an integrated graphics component—Zotac has a second Nano that might be more up your alley. This one is based on Via’s Nano X2 U4025 CPU, which has dual 1.2GHz cores backed by an accompanying VX900H chipset. The chipset includes Chrome9 integrated graphics that can handle DirectX 9 effects and accelerate video playback with multiple formats.
Obviously, most folks are going to want the Zacate-based Nano instead. The AD10 will be faster and able to handle a greater variety of applications, and it won’t be tagged with a rather unfortunate VD01 moniker. You will pay less for the, er, Nano-based Nano, though. Zotac tells us the barebones version will sell for only $170, which is $50 less than the Zacate config. Despite the hefty discount, the VD01 still comes with an MCE-compatible remote plus built-in Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and USB 3.0.