Review: NZXT DOKO

When I was planning for this year’s CES (2015), NZXT told me they were setting up meetings, but only had one new product they’d be showing. They wouldn’t tell me what it was or what it did, only that I’d see it when I visited their suite.

I arrived at NZXT’s suite and saw they had a television hooked up to a small black box, which had a keyboard, mouse, and gamepad attached to it. They simply told me “this is the DOKO”, to which I replied “err… what is a DOKO?”

The NZXT DOKO is a device designed for streaming a PC to a television, and is aimed at replacing the living room media PC.

A small black box with a power button, HDMI out, 3.5mm audio out, Ethernet out, and 4x USB 2.0 in, the DOKO is a pretty sleek device. The specifications are below:

• Model Number – AC-DOKOM-M1
• Dimensions – W: 108mm H: 29mm D:121mm
• Weight – 0.32kg
• Included Accessories – Ethernet Cable, Power Cable
• CPU – Wonder Media 8750
• Memory –256MB DDR3
• Boot Storage – 8MB SPII Flash
• Network Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet
• Video Output – HDMI 1.3 or higher
• Audio Output – Headphone Port
• Video Signal – 1080p @ 30FPS
• Power – 12V 2.5A DC Adapter
• Accessory Connection – 4x USB 2.0, USBOIP
• Materials – Rubberized Coating, ABS Plastic, PCB
• Color – Black
• UPC – 815671012241
• Warranty – 2 Years

The way the device works is fairly straightforward – the DOKO is plugged into a TV via HDMI, into the router via Ethernet (NZXT opted to not include a Wi-Fi option to avoid potential latency/bandwidth issues, and presumably lessen costs), and a keyboard/mouse/gamepad/USB-powered car battery/etc. via USB.

Once the DOKO is set up, the next step is to install the DOKO software on any PC you wish to use with your DOKO. The software is available on NZXT’s website, and has a fairly straightforward installation. From then on, the software runs in the background (similarly to a PLEX server) and makes it so the PC is available for DOKO streaming. The software also allows you to set up a password required in order to connect the DOKO to your PC, which is handy for preventing roommates or family members from accessing your PC during inopportune occasions.

With the software running on the PC, and the DOKO booted up, all there is to do is select the desired PC and remote in. The host PC will automatically detect any USB device plugged into the DOKO. At that point, you can do anything you normally would on your PC through the DOKO.

Unfortunately, the DOKO is limited to only 30 frames per second, though it does so at 1080p. This is fine for most tasks it was designed for, including watching movies (except for the Hobbit movies, Peter Jackson disapproves of the DOKO’s disappointing framerate). When it comes to gaming, gameplay is surprisingly smooth and doesn’t really have any noticeable latency. However, gamers might object to the framerate, since after all, 30 FPS is only for people on last-gen consoles, playability be damned! To them I say, go back to your room and play the games there, or get the new Nvidia Shield for twice the price of the DOKO.

The NZXT DOKO is a great product. At $99, it certainly allows you to do a lot more than you’d be able to do with a media PC that costs even twice as much (assuming you have a solid PC at home already). The device is small, a breeze to set up, and easy to use. Personally, I’ve been using it in conjunction with Logitech’s K830 wireless keyboard, which makes the DOKO extremely convenient for couch use.

Overall, I’d recommend the DOKO to anyone looking to get a living room PC of any sort, as long as they have a solid PC elsewhere in the household that they can stream from.

by Ryan Glovinsky