Even the smallest PC cases are still, well, quite large to be honest. Ideally, I have always wanted a PC that will sit happily in a front room and replace the Hi-Fi, DVD player, games console etc. A PC game piped through TV-out, even at just 800x600, looks a hell of a lot better than even the swankiest PS2 or X-Box game. Provided you have a good graphics card, that is. Laptops are all well and good, but they have zero upgradeability, zero functionality, and they also cost well over two thousand dollars for one with desktop-class specs. Enter the Shuttle Mini System.
The box the Shuttle comes in is well-designed and compact. Opening it up reveals what is quite simply a sublimely designed computer. Despite being tiny, the Shuttle Mini PC can actually accommodate standard desktop parts, giving it the performance required to fulfil all everyday tasks. Inside the amazingly stylish CoolerMaster inspired exterior case is a SiS based Micro ATX motherboard, featuring the highly competitive SiS 740 chipset. This board features (deep intake of breath) DDR RAM, support for AMD XP processors including Thoroughbreds, jumperless operation, onboard LAN, USB 2.0, On-Board SiS graphics, On Board Firewire, 5.1 surround (6 channel) audio, as well as an all-important Direct X and OpenGL compatible 3D accelerator board.
The Shuttle is sold as a barebones only system. This means you must provide your own CPU, memory, hard disks and optical drives. By itself the Barebones XPC system costs approximately $300, which when you consider the cost of a small aluminium case, a DDR motherboard, a SoundBlaster Live! quality sound card, a 3D accelerator card of equivalent performance to the 740 SiS, a fire wire card, and a USB 2.0 controller, offers seriously good value for money. Some companies are now using the Shuttle PC as a basis for complete systems, for example Chillblast in the UK have specified an Athlon XP2000+ based minisystem with 40GB 7200rpm drive, 256MB of RAM, and Pioneer DVD drive for £599.
