Product Reviews

We've come a long way since all PCs were identical grey boxes, but let's face it, many new designs still aren't up to much. PC Nextday's Zoostorm Mini PC is, however, refreshingly different. Not only is it the smallest system we've seen, there's no trace of beige.

HEY GOOD LOOKING

If you want a system that will take up as little space on your desk as possible the Mini is perfect. Both the mouse and keyboard are wireless, and rather than messy surround-sound you get a simple pair of stereo speakers. This means there are hardly any cables to clutter up your workspace, which is most welcome.

The case itself is finished in shiny black plastic that looks very nice, but you will have to be careful not to scratch its rather sensitive finish. To our surprise, the case feels reassuringly solid. Even the flap that hides the ports on the front of the case is made of relatively thick plastic and doesn't feel as if it might snap off at any minute.

COMFORT ZONE

We like the Microsoft optical keyboard that comes with this system - something which surprised us. It's one of the curved 'ergonomic' keyboards that are supposed to be more comfortable to type with.

In the past we found these extremely uncomfortable to use because the curve was so pronounced that the keyboard was split into two halves, with a big gap in between. The curve here is much gentler. There's no gap, and some keys are only slightly bigger than they would be on a normal keyboard.

We soon got used to this, it didn't slow down our typing and after a while it was even a bit more comfortable than a normal keyboard: an epiphany! The Microsoft wheel mouse was solid, felt comfortable in our hand and was pleasantly responsive

ADVERTISEMENT

to use.

Our first impression of the monitor was also good. It's a massive 20in from corner to corner. Better yet, it runs at a resolution of 1,600x1,200. This is far higher than the 1,280x1,024 resolution that's standard on 17in and 19in TFTs, and it works well on a 20in screen. Unfortunately, the image quality is far less impressive and the screen was very murky, even at its brightest setting. The viewing angle was also extremely narrow, which is disappointing for a screen large enough for a few people to sit around.

The stereo speakers may save you space, and look good, but sadly the sound quality is middling at best.

THE MIGHTY MINI

All too often, small computers also have stingy specifications. This is because their fancy cases cost a lot of money, forcing the manufacturer to scrimp on things like the speed of the processor, the amount of system memory and so on.

This isn't a problem with the Mini PC. It's fitted with a whopping 1GB of super-fast 533MHz memory. Its processor is a 1.7GHz Pentium M. Compared to the very latest Pentium 4s, which run at 3.5GHz and faster, the processor in this PC at first sounds a little puny. Don't be deceived. Pentium M processors were originally designed for use in notebooks. They're much more powerful than desktop processors that run at the same speeds.

This is evident if you look at the benchmark. The Mini scored 91.07 points - that's almost as much as our reference PC, and that uses an Athlon 64 3500+. This PC will cope with pretty much any 2D software you throw at it. Gaming performance wasn't as good, you'll have to turn off any advanced graphics options and run modern games at relatively low resolutions if you want them to be playable.

The motherboard has a 16x PCI-Express slot, so you could fit one of the latest graphics cards. You'll need to find a half-height graphics card, though, which won't be easy. This isn't meant to be a games system, so we didn't count its lack of gaming oomph against it - but it's something you need to know about when deciding whether the Mini is for you.

BUYING DECISIONS

The Zoostorm Mini is nicely designed, looks good and doesn't scrimp on the core specification. It misses out on an award because, at this price, we'd have expected a really good monitor and speakers.