2015 ZaReason Zeto desktop PC

[Welly Wu]

I just got my 2015 ZaReason Zeto desktop PC system. I'm unboxing right now. I'll be busy for the next couple of hours, but I'll try to stay connected to the Internet and my accounts.

[Welly Wu]

I'm back up and running for the most part. I successfully reinstalled Ubuntu 14.04.2 64 bit LTS GNU/Linux and I enabled full-disk encryption along with LVM partitioning. I just finished installing most but not all of my favorite GNU/Linux desktop software applications, packages, libraries, and dependencies. I created an e-mail message with step by step instructions on how to reinstall my favorite software and I am not done with it yet. I have to continue my work tomorrow, but most of it is done. On Saturday, I am going to pull my Crucial M550 2.5" 9.5 mm SATA-III 6 GB/s 1.0 TB solid state disk from my Lenovo IdeaPad Y510P notebook PC and I am going to install it in my 2015 ZaReason Zeto desktop PC, quick format and encrypt it, and use it to store and play my large SteamOS + GNU/Linux PC game library. Then, I am going to reinstall Ubuntu 14.04.2 64 bit LTS GNU/Linux and some of Robert W.'s favorite software applications, packages, libraries, and dependencies on his Lenovo IdeaPad Y510P notebook PC. This Sunday, I told him to visit me at my Nutley, New Jersey apartment and we will help each other out. Afterwards, he'll go home with his notebook PC and some accessories and I hope he enjoys it next week.

My 2015 ZaReason Zeto desktop PC, ASUS VS228 22" 1920 X 1080P full HD monitor, and Logitech keyboard and mouse fit on my wooden desk comfortably. Everything is much smaller than I originally thought because I had my own doubts that it would fit on top of my wooden desk, but it does so with room to spare. Now, I have a clean and spacious wooden desk free of clutter.

Everything is going along swimmingly.

I am very happy and satisfied with ZaReason. They are an excellent GNU/Linux proponent and retailer.

I did not get any sleep last night so I plan to go to bed earlier tonight to reset my internal clock. Tomorrow, my Logitech G710+ USB 2.0 wired illuminated mechanical keyboard will be delivered to my apartment via UPS overnight. I have to stay home to sign for my package and I must provide US government photo ID.

My Logitech Proteus Core G 502 USB 2.0 PC gaming mouse just works right out of the box with my 2015 ZaReason Zeto desktop PC and Ubuntu 14.04.2 64 bit LTS GNU/Linux. I'm hoping that some of the Logitech G710+ keyboard will also work right out of the box, but I shall see.

This Logitech MK120 USB 2.0 wired keyboard and mouse are terrible. It's extremely uncomfortable to use and it hurts my hands especially my wrists. I have to replace the keyboard with something better and more ergonomic. It's too noisy. I need a quieter keyboard.

For some unknown reason, I can not successfully log into my Welly Wu Ubuntu Forums account within Google Chrome, but I can do so without problems using Mozilla Firefox.

All of my software packages, libraries, and dependencies are up to date.

Good night.

[Welly Wu]

I successfully extracted and switched my Crucial M550 2.5" 7.00 mm SATA-III 6 GB/s 1.0 TB solid state disk from my Lenovo IdeaPad Y510P notebook PC to my new 2015 ZaReason Zeto desktop PC and it works. I quickly formatted and encrypted it with a secure master password. I am restoring my five SteamOS + GNU/Linux PC games onto my Crucial M550 1 TB SSD right now. I plan to play one PC game at a time to adjust the audio and video settings and restart each one to experience it on my new desktop PC. Everything works!

Well, that was certainly much faster than I'm used to. I restored all five SteamOS + GNU/Linux PC games in under 10 minutes. I played each one and I'm getting crazy fast speeds for CPU and GPU combined. For example, Sid Meier's Civilization V: Brave New World with all of the DLCs used to take up to four minutes to load my saved PC game and I would only get up to 30.00 frames per second with my Lenovo IdeaPad Y510P notebook PC. With my new 2015 ZaReason Zeto desktop PC, this same PC game loads in under 53.00 seconds flat and I'm getting up to 128.00 frames per second or faster. This is one of my most favorite SteamOS + GNU/Linux PC games of all time. It's also a real time waster, but I love it!

Today is early Friday morning. I'm going to wait for my Logitech G710+ illuminated mechanical keyboard and I will reinstall Ubuntu 14.04.2 64 bit LTS GNU/Linux on my Lenovo IdeaPad Y510P with some of my favorite software applications. Once that is done, I'll contact my close friend Robert W. and he'll visit me and we'll do our business and he can go home with a shiny toy.

[Welly Wu]

I just got my new Logitech G710+ USB 2.0 wired illuminated mechanical keyboard. I'm using it right now. It is extremely comfortable and it complements my Logitech Proteus Core G 502 USB 2.0 wired PC gaming mouse perfectly. I like the fact that the G710+ has white illuminated keys that can be set to five levels of brightness. The WASD keys can be set to five levels of brightness independently from the rest of the keyboard. The media control keys work perfectly too. I like the fact that there is a dedicated volume rocker knob and a mute button. The G1 - G6 macro keys require the Logitech software application which is not available for GNU/Linux yet. This is the best keyboard that I have ever used.

I decided to keep my Lenovo IdeaPad Y510P notebook PC because I fixed the screen flickering issue by reinstalling Ubuntu 14.04.2 64 bit LTS GNU/Linux and I added the X-Org Edgers PPA with the latest stable nVidia Geforce 349.16 64 bit graphics drivers. I plan to purchase a Seagate Samsung SpinPoint M9T 2.5" 9.5 mm SATA-III 6 GB/s 2.0 TB 5,400 RPM laptop hard disk drive and I will install it inside my notebook PC and I will quickly format and encrypt it. So, it will have the best of both worlds with a Transcend 2.5" SATA-III 6 GB/s 256.00 GB solid state disk and a Samsung SpinPoint M9T 2.5" SATA-III 6 GB/s 2.0 TB 5,400 RPM hard disk drive. I think that I will wait until next month to place my Amazon order for my new Samsung SpinPoint M9T laptop hard disk drive.

I'm happy and satisfied thus far.

[bapoumba]

Closing for review.

[Elfy]

opened

[RichardET]

So what did you do with your old System76? I recall when that was your flavour of the month.

[Welly Wu]

I gave my System76 notebook PC to my close friend Robert W.

I will be writing my review of my 2015 ZaReason Zeto desktop PC this weekend. I think that I have a good handle on it by now and I am getting myself organized in terms of writing my review.

This is the best desktop PC that I have owned yet.

[RichardET]

I like my W530 with its NVIDIA and 24 GB of RAM.

[Welly Wu]

2015 ZaReason Zeto desktop PC system review:

I bought my 2015 ZaReason Zeto desktop PC system on May 27th, 2015 at 10:22 PM EST directly from the ZaReason website. I got these following PC hardware components:

Crucial MX100 2.5" 7.00 mm SATA-III 6 GB/s 256.00 GB solid state disk (primary OS drive)
Crucial M550 2.5" 7.00 mm (with 2.5 mm bracket) SATA-III 6 GB/s 1.0 TB solid state disk (SteamOS + GNU/Linux drive)
ASUS VS228 22" 1920 X 1080P monitor with HDMI
EVGA Nvidia GTX 970 4GB w/ ACX 2.0 Cooler PN-04G-P4-2972-KR
Gigabyte H97-ITX Wi-Fi motherboard
EVGA 500 watt 80 Plus Gold power supply
Case: EVGA Hadron Air #110-MA-1001-K1
Logitech MK120 USB 2.0 wired keyboard and mouse
Logitech Proteus Core G 502 USB 2.0 wired PC gaming mouse
Logitech G 35 USB 2.0 wired headset
Logitech G710+ USB 2.0 wired illuminated mechanical keyboard
Belkin Category 6 Ethernet cable
Verizon FiOS Quantum Gateway Router with integrated switch and 4 Gigabit Ethernet ports along with 802.11 dual-band AC 2.4 / 5.0 GHz along with B/G/N
Transcend StoreJet USB 3.0 2.0 TB MIL-STD certified portable, rugged, encrypted hard disk drive
2012 ASUS Google Nexus 7 tablet running Android 5.1.1 Lollipop (for now)
LG smart phone
Microsoft XBOX 360 USB 2.0 wired PC controller
Aurum Ultra high speed HDMI 1.4 2.0 meter cables
ASUS USB 3.0 external Blu-Ray-RW / DVD-RW / CD-RW burner drive

Some of the stuff I already owned, but the ASUS 22" 1920 X 1080P full HD monitor, ZaReason Zeto desktop PC, and Logitech G710+ USB 2.0 illuminated mechanical keyboard were new for me. As you can see for yourself, it is a modern and fairly powerful desktop PC system. The reason why I decided to purchase this product is due to the fact that I have been purchasing notebook PCs since 2008. I have gone through four notebook PCs in the past seven years with each one presenting its' own unique PC hardware issues in less than two years. Suffice it to say, I have been using GNU/Linux since 2009 off and on with a combined five years or so of usage. After I bought my Lenovo IdeaPad Y510P notebook PC which I currently own and using Microsoft Windows 8.1 Professional with Media Center Update 64 bit, I decided to switch to the latest Ubuntu 14.04.2 64 bit LTS GNU/Linux desktop operating system full time. I was interested in the System76 Wild Dog Performance desktop PC system as it is a better value for the money, but the larger desktop PC case and the fact that the nVidia Geforce GTX 970 with 4.0 GB of GDDR5 video RAM GPU was not available at the time were decisive factors that lead me to the ZaReason Zeto desktop PC. I live in a large apartment with a medium sized bedroom and my desk is medium to smallish in size. I was looking for a micro ATX motherboard with a small form factor desktop PC case that would offer me the right balance of size, weight, and performance while still being 100% GNU/Linux certified. I also wanted to support a GNU/Linux certified OEM or ODM hardware manufacturer because this was important for me. Finally, I wanted someone else to build, configure, and test my desktop PC system for me rather than building it myself. In the end, ZaReason was the only provider that offered a product that I was interested in.

My overall impressions are such that this is a high quality product that is a breeze to use daily and it is utterly reliable in every regard. I did reinstall Ubuntu 14.04.2 64 bit LTS GNU/Linux from scratch bare metal because I wanted to enable full-disk encryption and I wanted to reinstall my favorite software applications. The installation process was smooth and trouble free for the most part. Features wise, this is pretty much a second to the current top of the line in terms of individual PC hardware components. My purchase price was $1,983.00 USD and I did not have to pay New Jersey sales tax or shipping fees. I think that it represents a decent value, but it is not necessarily the best value per dollar. My gut feeling is that I paid a premium for my 2015 ZaReason Zeto desktop PC when I could have rolled the dice by purchasing a IBuyPower Revolt or a CyberPowerPC Zeus Mini desktop PC system with Microsoft Windows 8.1 64 bit and I could have tried to reinstall Ubuntu 64 bit LTS GNU/Linux, but I was concerned that I might void the manufacturer's warranty and wind up with problems during the installation process. In terms of performance, my ZaReason Zeto desktop PC system has exceeded my expectations wildly. It is super fast and it has a large amount of high speed and high capacity solid state storage and RAM. Ubuntu 64 bit LTS GNU/Linux just works right out of the box and it a joy to use daily. My Logitech G710+ illuminated mechanical keyboard mostly works except for some of the media keys. The play, pause, stop, skip back, and skip forward buttons don't work. The mute and volume rocker buttons do work. The buttons to control the five levels of white illumination do work. The USB 2.0 port does work and I did plug in my Logitech Proteus Core G 502 USB 2.0 wired PC gaming mouse. Some of the buttons do work and some don't work. The M1 - MR buttons on the keyboard don't work and the programmable macro keys don't work. I knew that these would be issues, but I decided that the Logitech G710+ was still worth purchasing and owning. It is the first mechanical keyboard that I have ever owned and it is extremely comfortable. When playing a few SteamOS + GNU/Linux PC games, my 2015 ZaReason Zeto desktop PC is a champ. I can play almost every PC game at very high or usually ultra graphics settings and I still get 60.00 frames per second or much faster when I turn off VSYNC. In terms of daily usage, it is a speed demon and it can chew through complex computational tasks without breaking a sweat. While the internal fans are audible in a quiet room, I usually don't hear them spin up loudly at all even during heavy usage.

If you are looking for a GNU/Linux certified small form factor desktop PC at a reasonable price, then I highly recommend the ZaReason Zeto desktop PC system. The fact that I am supporting another major GNU/Linux company is important to me. The other fact that the latest Ubuntu 64 bit LTS GNU/Linux just works right out of the box is another major win for this company. This is the best desktop PC system that I have owned yet. I will not be returning my product.