14 DAY TRIAL // Although Zotac is quite well-known as a traditional NVIDIA partner, the company has adopted AMD's APU platform for some of its mini-PCs, the latest model to be built on this technology being the AD02 series, that has just been officially unveiled.
Before moving to their hardware configuration and other features, we'll have to mention that the ZOTAC ZBOX AD02 series of products includes two different models, namely the ZBOX AD02 and AD02 Plus, the main difference between the two being the fact that the first one lets users add their own RAM memory (2 x DDR3-1066 SO-DIMM slots) and HDD (2.5-inch SATA 6.0 Gb/s HDD/SSDs are supported), while the second packs a pre-installed 250GB HDD and 2GB of RAM memory.
As mentioned before, at the core of the new Zotac mini-PCs we'll be able to find the dual-core AMD E-350 APU (accelerated processing unit) running at 1.6 GHz, accompanied by the embedded AMD Radeon HD 6310 graphics processor, that should prove to be quite enough for the range of applications the Zotac AD02 targets.
The ZBOX machines also leverage the advantages provided by AMD UVD technology, including here hardware accelerated H.264, VC-1 and decode, while also sporting advanced audio playback technologies, such as Dolby TrueHD & DTS-HD: Master Audio.
Moreover, the miniature systems also pack plenty of connectivity and networking options, including here two USB 3.0 ports on the real side, and just about every possible connector (including optical output) one might need in order to build a fully-functional home entertainment system around it (built-in card reader, HDMI port, audio inputs and outputs, eSATA port, etc.).
Sadly, Zotac wasn't quite keen on providing any specific details related to the AD02 series' pricing and availability, but they'll probably do that once these AMD Fusion APU-based mini-PCs get closer to being made available for purchase.