At only 114.8mm x 76mm x 23.8mm, the pico isnt much larger than a pack of playing cards.
Interestingly, Zotac sells this machine in two SKUs.
What it offers is a remarkably compact design that is silent in operation.
It is purchasable fromZotac in the USA, but stock isn’t always available.
The UK retailer Scan has some stock coming, we’ve been told.
US prices are $599 direct from Zotac for the Windows edition (ZBOX-PI430AJ-GLB).
Another size-determined choice is that the SD card reader only accepts microSD cards, not full SDXC.
It does this silently and power-efficiently, avoiding the typical dust-clogging issues that undermine fans.
Our experience is that this solution works well, possibly too well.
And depending on where it is deployed, that might be more of an issue.
There is something slightly old-school about this processor, as it doesnt use the P and E core model.
Instead, its a classic eight-core CPU without hyperthreading that uses only E cores.
Graphics results dont show the Pico at its best, nor do the benchmarks designed to push the CPU.
And it is even beaten by the N100 in the single-core GeekBench test.
Replacing this machine with one that was AMD Ryzen-based, they would notice the upgrade in experience.
Should you buy a Pico PI430AJ?
But as Intel hardware goes, the Core i3-N300 is lacklustre, if not power efficient.
For those using those technologies, that could be a deal breaker.
If you’re gonna wanna edit a video or design, this isnt for you.
It isnt quicker than the Pico, but the performance isnt dramatically slower, and it is significantly cheaper.
Not for the economically challenged.
