Dell Inspiron Zino HD (AMD Athlon X2)

Pros: The overall design is appealing in a living room, low noise, easily portable to other rooms.

Cons: No light on front to indicate if power is on, the power is easily pushed by mistake, no slot load DVD tray.

Summary: I bought four of these back in December, one with blu-ray, 6850e cpu, 4330 gpu, 4gb, 320gb hd; one with dvd, 4330, 6850e cpu, 3gb, 4330 gpu, 320gb hd; one with dvd, 3250e cpu, 4330 gpu, 3gb, 320gb hd; and one with dvd, 6850e cpu, 3200 gpu, 2gb, 250gb hd. So, the reveiwer is incorrect in stating there isn't a blu-ray option, you can add it for $100 on Dell's site. The problem with playing blu-rays though is the included PowerDVD software doesn't play the disks properly. Luckily, I already had purchased a copy of TotalMedia Platinum and that works perfectly. According to tell there is supposed to be a fix for PowerDVD in a few weeks (yeah, right!). I have had no problems playing HD content on any of my machines. They are pretty quiet, and if your box is noisy enough to be heard more than 10 feet away, call Dell for someone to come and change the heatsink and fan. You will have to do some tweaking of the graphic card's settings, and I suggest that you visit AVSforum for more information on that. My main problem with the Zino is that the power button is located on top of the box, and if you happen to push down on the lid by resting your finger on it to open or change a DVD, or to move the box, the power button is easily pushed, and will turn off your machine. The other problem with the Zino is that the power button is the only thing that illuminates to let you know that it is on. There are no lights on the front panel (like the Studio Hybrid) to indicate its on/off status. So, if you have the Zino in a media stand or cabinet that is not on the lowest shelf or is farther than you can see, you will have to get up to check if it is on or not. Like I said, I am pretty satisfied with Zinos for what I use them for: watching movie disks, watching onlin streaming, and surfing the net. We don't have subscription TV, and these supply all of our media needs.

Updated on Jan 15, 2010

Oh yeah, I just checked and if you use e-value code DDPDUZ2, you can still get this Zino configuration for $349, 3250e cpu, 3gb, 4330 gpu, 320gb hd, wireless-g, and W7 home premium. For $100 more, the blu-ray option is offered, but it will delay the shipment of your box.