Two-minute review
Not everyone needs a big shiny box on their desk to show off. And not everyone spends all day every day gaming hard. Zotac's latest mini-PC experiment, by that metric, is not for everyone - though it'll make most people happy.
It probably isn't for RGB-addled PC-building hardcores, though many will likely be interested given that it is a way to actually get hold of decent PC components amidst the current drought. Creative types will likely have their sights set on a new iMac. But for those on the PC side of the fence, for gamers who care more about the game than the pretty lights surrounding it, this is a powerful PC for those who just want a powerful PC. It looks pretty dull, but it's a machine that'll get out of the way and let you work hard and game harder.
Design-wise it borrows heavily from Intel's Ghost Canyon NUC, offering split-compartment cooling and some very sensible tinker-friendly component layout inside, though the capacity is larger than that NUC. This barebones box asks very little, only that you insert your own RAM and storage, tasks anyone can complete, made even easier by its easy to-open case. It's fairly convenient, with all the important ports accessible from the front, though we might have appreciated it if slightly more USB had been routed from the back.
Everything's air cooled, which (given the need to shift heat out of the Magus One's relatively slim 8.3L capacity) can lead to some fairly cacophonous background noise, particularly with all of its fans working in sync. But its cooling is effective, with ventilation very rarely hitting a thermal peak, and the performance is very, very solid.
