Zotac MAG SFF Nettop Review January 20, 2010 Mike Garcen Courtesy of my twitter friend @Vinylfreak, here’s a quick first review I’ve seen of a new nettop from Zotac. The chassis is pretty unique, and of course it utilizes the Atom chipset. Also, don’t forget to follow us @MissingRemote as well! Big Antonio Blog CPU-wise, we’re talking dual-core Atom 330 CPU and therefore no less than four logical CPUs available for number crunching. Impressive, eh? But as we shall see, even a dual-core Atom chip is a long way short of a proper desktop CPU. Still, the whole point of Nvidia’s Ion chipset is to take the load off the CPU. So maybe that doesn’t matter. Sure enough, the MAG does a great job with a wide range of HD formats up to and including seriously high bit rate 1080p content. There is, however, a catch. Enabling the hardware acceleration bits on the Ion chip is absolutely crucial for smooth playback. Without it, you’re relying on the Atom CPU. Even in dual-core form, it’s hopeless for HD video. FacebookTwitterEmail tagged with OEM Media Center PCs
