Good Things Come in Small Packages

It was time for a serious technology refresh for my personal home studio.

I built the tech refresh around a Zotac IDQ1 barebones kit which I turned into a triple boot Hackintosh. This relatively inexpensive base systems screams at it’s price point of less than $700. I have the box booting Windows 10 and Linux 14LTS in about 5 seconds and Mac OS X El Captain in about 10 seconds. Here’s a poorly made video of the box booting up the OSes:

Here are the base specs:

  • Processor
    Intel Core i7-4770T (quad core, 2.5 GHz up to 3.7 GHz)
  • Chipset
    Intel H87
  • System Memory
    2 x DDR3-1600 SO-DIMM Slots, Max 16GB

Graphics

  • Graphics Engine
    Intel HD Graphics 4600
  • Video Output
    2x DisplayPort,
    Single Link DVI-I
I/O Ports
  • Audio
    Microphone, Headphone,
    SPDIF optical output
  • 4 x USB 3.0 Ports
  • Dual Gigabit LAN
  • Antenna – 1 x WiFI SMA connetor
  • Wifi – 802.11ac/b/g/n
  • Bluetooth 4.0
  • CIR Infrared Port

Here’s what I added:

  • 16 GB DDR 3 RAM – Crucial Kit
  • mSATA 256gb SSD  boot drive – Samsung EVO850
  • 1 TB Hybrid SSD Drive – Segate

All items were purchased from Amazon and arrived within 2 days (you got to love Prime !). I’ve posted reviews on all the components on Amazon.com please read them and give me a hands up

 

Here’s a snap shot of all the other gear which I added to my very new Home A/V and Web development studio.

Here's the very capable Zotac IDQ1 desktop studio
Here’s the very capable Zotac IDQ1 desktop studio

Outboard gear:

MBP 13″

Dell 21″ LCD monitor

Mackie CRrR – BT

Behringer Q502USB mini mixer DAW

Akai MPC Key 25 Ableton Live Controler

Sonly MDR950 BT Headphones

3TB Segate External Drive

3TB WD external Drive.

Apple Ipad Air 2 with NewTrent Keyboard / Case.

 

… and for fun …

 

Blackstar ID Core 40 Amplifier.

And much much much more.

 

Stay tuned for OS install instruction and reviews of the outboard gear.

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