By Philip Churchill on November 13th, 2009
Dell Inspiron Zino HD for WHS?
The Dell Inspiron Zino HD is a small 8" by 8" desktop computer with 4 external USB 2.0 ports and 2 eSATA connectors. Comprising an Athlon Dual-Core processor and up to 8GB of RAM it is a contender for a home build Home Server, although it only has space for one internal SATA II hard disk.
With 2GB of RAM with a 1TB hard drive the unit works out as $379, although prices start at $229.
More details on the Dell Inspiron Zino HD are available from here, CruchGear also has an article on the 5 best uses for the $229 Dell Zino HD.
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With the 640GB priced at $324, and adding in $100 for OEM WHS, the price starts to get up there. And with the LX195 currently $199 at the Egg it would be hard to sell it as a WHS.
The Zino reminds me of my old Cube enclosure. A digital or optical out would have been cool. I assume the VGA is supplied for LCDs instead of a cleaner DVI output. The eSATA is a nice touch but I bet your external drive is the same size as the Zino!
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/insp300/en/index.htm
I will say however, being a true Dell Guy, that I would love to buy one of these as a HTPC Chistmas gift! It makes as an alternative to the Studio Hybrid for half the price. For $259 with Win7, WMC and HDMI you cannot lose!
Tim
It still strikes me as absurd that Dell does not make a WHS. However I have found that my best WHS incarnations are made from using old Dell Poweredge servers.