Zoostorm anyone used one?

[Pob255]

I've found this Zoostorm pc on misco

http://www.misco.co.uk/applications/...393132&CatId=0

Specs look ok for a basic unit.

Just wondering what Zoostorm is like and if anyone here has used one?

Bit of digging
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoostorm
http://www.zoostorm.com/

Cannot see much of it, cannot find any more images, the case looks a little nasty, pritty front panel on a cheap thin steel body is my guess.
Still for £320 that's not a bad spec.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Zoostorm have won a few awards for building excellent value for money systems IIRC.

However I could spec a better value build for similar money(the Zoostorm PC comes to around £325 with postage).

Phenom II X2 545 ~ £63

http://www.scan.co.uk/TodayOnly/Index.aspx

Biostar TA785GE 128M~ £57

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Biost...-RAID-mATX-VGA

Has 128MB of dedicated RAM for the IGP.Also with the SB710 southbridge you maybe able to unlock the processor to a quad core.

2GB PC2-6400 RAM ~ £43

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/2GB-%...d-CAS-5-5-5-18

400W Silverpower PSU ~ £31

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/400w-...ed-cooling-fan

Asus TA-881 ~ £18

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Asus-...r-Case-w-o-PSU

SATA DVD rewriter ~ £16

http://www.scan.co.uk/TodayOnly/Index.aspx

500GB Samsunng F3 ~ £36

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/500Gb...-Cache-8ms-OEM

Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit ~ £72

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Microsoft-Wi...7626727&sr=1-8

Microsoft keyboard and optical mouse ~ £8

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Micro...e-and-Keyboard

120MM case fan ~ £4

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/120mm...value-case-fan

The total comes to around £348 with the free Scan postage.

The advantages of the self build are:
1.)Faster processor
2.)Faster IGP
3.)Faster hard disk with more storage
4.)Better PSU(probably)
5.)Windows 7
6.)Better keyboard and mouse

The disadvantages of the self build are:
1.)Less RAM
2.)Case still a tad tacky!

[MadduckUK]

try it again with 4GB, nobody should be buying 2GB now

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

try it again with 4GB, nobody should be buying 2GB now

I clicked on the thanks button by mistake!! Blooming touchpad!! Doh!!

Sorry but I don't agree with you there about the RAM.

I know plenty of people running systems with 2gb of RAM and are using both Vista and Windows 7.

Even the PCs at work don't have more than 2GB of RAM and they work fine with all the imaging work we do.

My notebook has 1gb and I have had spreadsheets,around 20+ PDFs and a few word documents open and a few tabs of Firefox open and it still had a few mb free.

The computer connected to the imaging setup at work had 3GB of RAM and it was fine. The only computer which had 4GB was the computer doing some complex image processing tasks.

Both, my desktops have 4GB and I barely even use 1.5GB for normal usage. The only reason I have 4GB of RAM in my main desktop is since I do photography and some of image scans from negatives can be quite big. The second desktop has 4GB since I got it for around £25 off Ebay yonks ago. Even then in both cases I only can use around 3.25gGB of RAM since I only had the 32 bit versions of the XP and Vista to hand and it was cheaper to buy 4GB of RAM than 3GB.

For normal duties 2GB is more than enough. A faster processor and hard disk make more difference in real life.

[Pob255]

Yes for general windows/office work 2gb is fine, heck a lower spec cpu would be fine as well, a Pentium Dual-Core e5200 works fine.
Also note that that zoostorm in vista business/xp pro, shame this is after the 22nd oct free upgrade to win7 date.
home version just might not be useable in an office envrionment.

I'm not knocking CAT's build list, I just thought this looks like a good offer as a prebuilt system.
Remember not everyone want to build a pc.

I was more concrened on what they are like as prebuilt systems? and if anyone had any experience with them?
How much preinstalled junk is on them? are they using any non-standard parts?

[PeterStoba]

Nice of them to include 3GB of RAM rather than 4GB a 32bit OS, unlike others

[art vandelay]

We used to supply Zoostorm machines. They are decent machines for the price. And they offer pretty good UK support.