It’s been almost 9 months since Zotac started showing off its first tiny desktop computers to feature ARM-based processors. Now the company is getting ready to start selling its new ZBOX Nano D518 with a Freescale i.MX6 Quad processor.

It’s expected to go on sale in September for less than $200.

d518_01

Japanese site Ask-Corp.jp has pictures and specs. The little computer looks a lot like other members of the Zotac ZBOX Nano family, but it’s what’s inside that’s different.

Instead of an Intel or AMD processor, this model has Freescale’s ARM Cortex-A9 quad-core processor. And instead of shipping with no operating system (or Windows), the ZBOX Nano D518 features 1GB of RAM, 8GB of eMMC solid state storage, and Google Android 4.3 software.

Other features include 4 USB 2.0 ports, HDMI output, an Ethernet jack, and 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi. It also has an SD card reader, mic, and headphone jacks. Interestingly the WiFi adapter is made by Intel. There’s a 2.5 inch drive bay inside the case if you want to add extra storage.

The system measures 5″ x 5″ x 1.8″ and uses just 4.5 watts of power during normal operation, or up to a maximum of 7.7 watts. Oh yeah, and the ZBOX D518 uses passive cooling, which means there’s no fan in the case.

via Fanless Tech

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13 replies on “Zotac’s first ARM-based mini PC coming in September for under $200”

  1. It’s a little too expensive, considering there is no hardware video decoding available in linux for this platform AND it comes with Android.
    It’s not for me…

  2. With chromeboxes costing less than this and more ram, there’s really just no incentive getting this.

  3. You know I wish that one of these arm boxes would just run Normal Linux, can can do so much more with a full Linux machine, even one running ARM CPU vs Android.

      1. Yeap, BUT when you start adding taxes and shipping rates, you pass 120$ and this becomes not such a good solution after all.

        1. I got mine for $95 including shipping. They are in talks with US distributors so the shipping charges will soon be minimal.

  4. I have a number of ARM based boards, including two with the Freescale i.MX6 (single core RIoTBoard and quad core Udoo). I kind of got bit by the bug after getting my first Raspbery Pi. These boards are all good for different things, and I’m sure if Zotac does a good build of the OSes, hopeful Android and at least one traditional Linux distribution, it will be alright. At under $200, that seems high to me for a device with an ARM soc that has been on the market for awhile.

    I have an ECS Liva PC – 32GB storage model, running Ubuntu, and it does all of my general entertainment needs – music, Youtube, general word precessing, email, connecting up to other computers on my network (RDP and SSH), and I have a lot less trouble getting things to run and run well on X86 Linux.

    With the cost of the ECS Liva PC being in the same range and the Minnowboad Max and and Minnowboard Max Dual being in that price range as well, I’d be surprised if it has success unless it’s a $99 device.

    1. Liva is amazing. I got it for 165$ before tax on Amazon(179 now). Ubuntu and Windows 8.1 runs (great) out of the box and with some basic skills also other distros.This is enough for most people for basic computing. By the way, Zbox C1320 sells for 135$ barbone or zbox 2957u for 220$ with 2gb ram, 64ssd and win8.1 so I really dont understand the pricing for the ARM pc. No more than 120-130$ giving the fact that this is a big company and the quality of material used is good unlike other chinese no-name boxes.

    2. Thanks for the heads up on the Liva PC! You make a great point comparing it to the Minnowboard Max. Definitely going to read up on it.
      Just curious: I see that it has a microUSB port for power. Have you tried running it off of one of those portable USB batteries?

      1. If it pulls 5 watts or so, it should run for several hours on a portable USB battery. I’ve run a RPi on one for 4 hours.

  5. One hopes that they are better than the windows machines.
    Our IT department had tried to use then I’m a couple of light applications but they are in a pile now.

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