At first glance Zotac’s new ZBOX MA621 nano and ZBOX CA621 nano computers look pretty familiar — because these small desktop computers have cases that are nearly identical to those the company has used for previous-gen mini PCs. The MA621 is a small computer that looks a lot like an Intel NUC, while the CA621 is a slightly larger, elongated model with ventilation in the case that makes passive cooling possible (the computer doesn’t have a fan).

What’s new are the processors — these are Zotac’s first ZBOX nano mini PCs to feature AMD Ryzen chips.

Under the hood, the ZBOX MA621 nano and ZBOX CA621 feature 15 watt, AMD Ryzen 3 3200U dual-core processors with Radeon 3 graphics.

These are the sort of low-power chips that are typically found in low-cost laptops rather than desktop computers. They’re hardly AMD’s most impressive chips, and it seems likely that Zotac will position these little computers as low-cost alternatives to the new ZBOX MA662 nano and ZBOX CA622 nano systems which support up to an Intel Core i7-10501U COmet Lake processor.

Still, it’s interesting to see the company jump on the AMD bandwagon using a Ryzen U-series chip just a few months after AMD announced it’s partnering with PC makers to offer mini PCs with Ryzen Embedded processors. Perhaps we’ll see models with higher-performance Ryzen chips in the future?

For now, it looks like here’s what we can expect from the first Ryzen-powered ZBOX nano systems:

Ryzen 3 3200U processors

Radeon Vega 3 grpahics

2 x SODIMM slots for up to 32GB of DDR4-2133/2400 memory

2.5″ drive bay

M.2 2242 SATA SSD slot

802.11ac WiFi

Bluetooth 4.2

2 x Gigabit Ethernet

HDMI 2.0

DisplayPort

4 x USB 3.0 ports

SDXC card reader

VESA Mount support

ZOTAC ZBOX MA621 nano gallery

Zotac ZBOX CA621 nano gallery

Share this article: Share this: Facebook

Twitter

Reddit

Pocket

Tumblr

Pinterest

LinkedIn

Email

