Small Wonder: Zotac's HD-ND01 Nettop Review

Name: Small Wonder: Zotac's HD-ND01 Nettop Review - Page 5
Brand: Small

by Joel Hruska — Monday, December 07, 2009, 01:00 PM EDT

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Test System Configuration

We didn't have access to a system that precisely matched the capabilities of the Zotac MAG, so we picked up an Asus AT3GC-I as a representative for any Atom 330 products that use the Intel 945GC chipset. we're not directly comparing the AT3GC-I to the MAG HD-ND01 as such—they're two completely different animals—but we will be discussing the performance differences between the two platforms the products use. The Zotac MAG has several advantages over the Intel-based Asus board, including dual-channel DDR2 support, hardware-accelerated video decoding, and HDMI/DVI out (the latter provided via adapter.)

Our two test systems were configured as identically as possible. Both systems used the Zotac MAG's 5400 RPM drive for benchmarks and use 2GB of RAM. We considered Windows XP instead of Windows 7, but ultimately opted for the latter—virtually all the OEM nettops shipping now are using Win 7, and it's definitely the OS of choice if you've got the hardware to handle it. Discovering if both Atom-based systems actually did was a secondary goal. Since both of our testbeds are based around Intel's Atom, we're not going to focus much on CPU performance, but will instead look more at system performance as a whole.

HotHardware's Test Systems

Performance Comparisons

System 1:
Zotac MAG HD-ND01

Intel Atom 330
NVIDIA ION board
2GB DDR2-800@533MHz
Microsoft XBox 360 HD-DVD (Not included)
NVIDIA ION integrated graphics
160GB Toshiba HDD (5400 RPM, 8MB cache)
Windows 7 (Not Included)

Price: $299

System 2:
Asus AT3GC-I

Intel Atom 330
Asus AT3GC-I
2GB DDR2-800@533MHz
Microsoft XBox 360 HD-DVD (Not Included)
Integrated Intel 945GC Graphics
160 GB Toshiba HDD (5400 RPM, 8MB cache)

Price: NA ($89, motherboard-only)

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Tags: Nvidia, Intel, Nettop, Zotac, Atom

Small Wonder: Zotac's HD-ND01 Nettop Review

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Test System Configuration

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