Conclusion

The ZBOX EN760/EN860 are Zotac’s way of catering to people who want a very compact PC, but still need good GPU performance for the occasional gaming session. It’s like a home theater system that can also run some of the latest games in 1080p.

The EN760 Plus is a capable compact gaming machine thanks to its Nvidia GeForce GTX 860M graphics processor. Competition in the mini PC segment is heating up. There are some models, with more powerful CPUs and solid state storage, but few can match the ZBOX EN760 in the gaming departments.

The ZBOX EN760 is a tad bigger than an external 3.5-inch HDD enclosure but it is packed with a host of connectors on all sides. It is a very convenient form factor, as you can slip it into any backpack or even a briefcase.

Zotac has two versions of the EN760. The Plus version comes with 8GB of RAM and a 1TB HDD, and is available for €750. The second option is a barebones system, which requires the user to install the memory and storage. It costs €550

One reason for getting the barebones version would be to repurpose old hardware, namely 2.5-inch SSDs or hard drives, maybe even SO-DIMM modules. You can either reuse old hardware, or go all out, get a 7200rpm drive or hybrid SSHD, along with a fast mSATA drive and dual-channel memory.

The EN760 was recently refreshed and the new EN860 version shares its appearance and most of the specs. You get a marginally faster Core i5-4210U processor but the same Geforce graphics.

To sum up, the Zotac ZBOX EN760 can serve as the primary PC in many homes and offices. However, this also means that marketing departments have a bit of a problem to deal with – many consumers associate mini-PCs with underpowered nettops, but configurations like the EN760/EN860, Sphere OI520, Gigabyte Brix Pro or high-end Intel NUC models are changing the game. They can replace an ITX or mATX system in many scenarios.