The Cybernet ZPC-D5 ($384 direct) is a very inexpensive, very compact nettop. The ZPC-D5 line starts at $349, so the only difference between the base model and this review unit is $35 for an extra 2GB of system memory. It has an attractive price point for the business owner who has to outfit a bunch of office users on a tight budget, especially if their actual needs are sparse. Sure, it's kind of weak on the benchmark tests, but it's adequate if your daily workload consists of checking email and utilizing business web apps, social media, and IM. It's not for every business user in your company, but if you absolutely, positively need to spend as little as possible on your business PC and need it to fit in a small space, then take a look at the ZPC-D5.

Design & Features
The ZPC-D5 has its keyboard and a touchpad built into its chassis, reminiscent of the Commodore 64 of the early 1980s with its simple design, though the three inch tall Commodore 64 was much thicker than the ZPC-D5 (roughly one inch thick). Another thing the ZPC-D5 has over the Commodore is a tray-loading DVD burner, which is rare even for a modern nettop class desktop. The touchpad to the right of the keyboard is full sized and has a single mouse button that rocks for left or right mouse clicks. It's relatively easy to get used to, but may initially feel "out of place" if you're left handed or used to the touchpad being below the keyboard like on a laptop.

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Like most compact systems (though let's face it, this is essentially netbook without a screen), the ZPC-D5 doesn't have too much internal expansion space. However, there is an easy to open access panel on the bottom of the unit to get to the notebook class 2.5 inch hard drive and the single memory slot. Our unit came with a 250GB 5,400rpm WD drive and a 4GB DDR3 SO-DIMM. The system has four USB 2.0 ports, a HDMI-out port, a VGA port, SD card reader, and an Ethernet port. These are sufficient for a system in the nettop class, since nettop users likely won't need huge storage and the requisite high-speed ports like USB 3.0 or eSATA. The VGA and HDMI ports allow simultaneous use for dual display. Note that the HDMI port is limited to 1,024-by-768 resolution, so the system isn't suitable for HD video output to a large screen via HDMI. Strangely enough, the VGA port will output 1,920-by-1,080 (1080p HD) resolution graphics. Chalk the limitations up to the integrated Intel GMA 3150 graphics, which can handle 1080p HD, but not on simultaneous displays in this system. Not a problem for a business user, but a consumer user would want the resolution capabilities reversed.

The nettop is designed as a business system, since Cybernet has years of experience building systems for vertical markets (like hospitals and warehouses). The ZPC-D5 is the latest in a long line of "zero footprint PCs," so called because they take up as much desk space as an external keyboard. As such it is pretty free of any extraneous programs or bloatware—a good thing for IT folks and users, since there's nothing to clean up off the hard drive. The system comes with a one-year warranty.

Performance
The Intel Atom D525 is a dual-core nettop processor made more for energy saving than performance. Therefore, it's no surprise that the ZPC-D5 got us some of the lowest scores on our benchmark tests. It managed to encode a video in Handbrake in 8 minutes 41 seconds and took 20:51 on our Photoshop CS5 test script. If multimedia performance is important to your business, you're better off buying our business Editors' Choice HP Compaq 4000 Pro ($549 direct, 4.5 stars) (2:38 Handbrake, 5:04 CS5), even our consumer nettop EC, the Acer Revo RL100-UR20P ($569.99 list, 4 stars) is faster, thanks to an AMD dual-core processor (5:43 Handbrake, 13:69 CS5). That said, this lack of performance could be a good thing for some businesses: business apps for line workers (email, accessing inventory databases computed on a server, point of sale, etc.) usually don't need a lot of computing power, so there will be very little incentive for your workers to waste time with web-based games or working on editing YouTube videos. If you consider this system to be the equivalent of the VT100 terminal from 1980s computing, then you'll be alright.

The Cybernet ZPC-D5 is a niche player in the business PC field. It's not very powerful, but it's also not very expensive. Our current EC for midrange business desktops the HP Compaq 4000 Pro is $165 more expensive, but also has a lot more expandability and performance. Likewise on the consumer side, our nettop EC the Acer Revo RL100-UR20P is also more powerful and more capable. For the money, the ZPC-D5 isn't a bad buy, especially if you're outfitting users that have limited needs or are abusive to their PCs. The $349-$384 isn't a lot to spend to replace a system, and it's powerful enough for basic business use. Call it recommended with reservations, but if you have a need for a cheap, compact PC for your business users, the ZPC-D5 is a decent buy.

BENCHMARK TEST RESULTS
Check out the test scores for the Cybernet ZPC-D5

COMPARISON TABLE
Compare the Cybernet ZPC-D5 with several other desktops side by side.

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