There is something inherently cool about miniature computing, and this is an area which Zotac have been particularly active in over the last few years. Zotac’s Zbox series of mini-PCs range from low powered computer-stick devices with Intel Atom processors, all the way up to an Intel i7-7700 with XMX GTX 1080 Graphics card. Today Zotac has released two new models in their mid-range M-series and ultra-compact P-series.
The MI553 is the larger model, available in both a 'standard' and 'plus' variant, and it is equipped with a notebook class i5-7300HQ. Both have the same physical dimensions at 185 x 185 x 72 mm (7.3 x 7.3 x 2.8 inches), but the standard model is a barebones system, while the Plus comes with a 120 GB m.2 SSD and 4 GB DDR4 RAM. Key features include Thunderbolt 3, two storage expansion slots (m.2 and 2.5-inch), USB-C, 1000 Mbps LAN, and 802.11ac. The MI553 supports 4K output via HDMI 2.0 and DisplayPort 1.2, so with a large 2.5-inch hard drive installed it would do nicely as a media center PC. The Thunderbolt 3 port does support eGPU enclosures, although using an external graphics card with a compact desktop is an unusual use case.
The PI225 claims the honor of being the world’s smallest mini-PC since its form-factor excludes it from being considered a compute stick. There is a Celeron N3350 ‘Apollo Lake’ at its heart, 4 GB DDR3 RAM, and 32 GB eMMC storage with Windows 10 Home pre-installed. Cooling is handled passively, and all physical connectivity is provided by 2 x USB-C which handle regular USB tasks in addition to the video output. The PI225 could be mistaken for a smartphone at a glance, measuring 95 x 63 x 8 mm (3.8 x 2.5 x 0.3 inches).
Zotac MI553 | Zotac MI553 Plus | Zotac PI225 | |
---|---|---|---|
CPU | i5-7300HQ 2.5/3.5 GHz 4C/4T | i5-7300HQ 2.5/3.5 GHz 4C/4T | Celeron N3350 1.1/2.4 GHz 2C/2T |
RAM | 2 x SODIMM DDR4-2133/2400 slots | 1 x 4 GB DDR4 (total 2 SODIMM) | 4 GB LPDDR3 |
Storage | 1 x M.2 Slot, 1 x 2.5-inch slot | 1 x 120 GB M.2, 1 x 2.5-inch slot | 32 GB eMMC + microSD slot |
Operating System | None | None | Windows 10 Home 64-bit |
Ports | Front: SD card reader / USB3.1 combo | Front: SD card reader / USB3.1 combo 1 x USB-C Rear: WiFi Antenna 1 x Thunderbolt 3 4 x USB3 1 x RJ45 1000 Mbps LAN | 2 x USB-C (inc. video) 1 x microSD Seperate power connector |
Dimensions | 185 x 185 x 72 mm (7.3 x 7.3 x 2.8 inches) | 185 x 185 x 72 mm (7.3 x 7.3 x 2.8 inches) | 95 x 63 x 8 mm (3.8 x 2.5 x 0.3 inches) |