[Jason Dunn]

http://www.shuttleonline.com/spec.php3?model=ss51

Recently in a rather...intense thread on Apple a few individuals had said that no one gets excited about new PC models. Boy were they wrong.



I'm the proud owner of a Shuttle SS51G - this thing is a miracle of modern engineering! Firewire, USB 2.0, AGP, PCI, an innovative "heat pipe" on the CPU for no-fan operation. I've been loaned some hardware for the Faster Smarter Digital Video book, so here's what going into this little beastie: Pentium 4 2.53 Ghz, 1 gig of PC2700 DDR RAM, 120 gig Western Digital Special Edition hard drive (8 meg cache), and an as-yet unknown nVidia video card (hopefully a GeForce 4 Ti 4600). My blood is boiling at the thought of putting this thing through some benchmarks. It was a little pricey ($569 CND), but worth every penny. I'll let you know how it works out...

[Jason Dunn]

http://www.shuttleonline.com/spec.php3?model=ss51

Recently in a rather...intense thread on Apple a few individuals had said that no one gets excited about new PC models. Boy were they wrong.



I'm the proud owner of a Shuttle SS51G - this thing is a miracle of modern engineering! Firewire, USB 2.0, AGP, PCI, an innovative "heat pipe" on the CPU for no-fan operation. I've been loaned some hardware for the Faster Smarter Digital Video book, so here's what going into this little beastie: Pentium 4 2.53 Ghz, 1 gig of PC2700 DDR RAM, 120 gig Western Digital Special Edition hard drive (8 meg cache), and an as-yet unknown nVidia video card (hopefully a GeForce 4 Ti 4600). My blood is boiling at the thought of putting this thing through some benchmarks. It was a little pricey ($569 CND), but worth every penny. I'll let you know how it works out...

[Venturello]

I've read many reviews about this little box, but the configuration you got on it is SWEEEET Jason! Enjoy!!!

[mjaffe]

Hey...now I know what they did with all those left over Apple cube enclosures! ;-)

Enjoy.
Marc

[kagayaki1]

I have done so much research about the SS51 since the post was made about Small Form Factor computing a couple weeks ago. This is the coolest thing to come along in a while.

I encourage everyone to read the reviews of this little device. Most are available as links on ComputerNerd, and cover some not so well known pluses and minuses about the product. But, overall, it looks like Small Form Factor computing is finally making its mark.

-Jason[/url]

[welmoed]

So who sells them? The specs look mighty interesting.

[kagayaki1]

I actually don't find it to be THAT pricey; here's why:

(all this is in US dollars) OK, a good case is going to cost you $100, no matter if it's large or small. Then, a good quality motherboard is going to cost you about $100 too. Factor in the very cool processor cooler plus fan at $40, a power supply at $50, and suddenly you're very close to the $329 US price tag (@ newegg, for those who care). I think it's actually quite reasonable.

-Jason

[kagayaki1]

Originally Posted by welmoed

So who sells them? The specs look mighty interesting.

www.newegg.com]NewEgg, www.computernerd.com]ComputerNerd, and I think www.tigerdirect.com]TigerDirect are all selling them. They are in VERY hot demand, though. In fact, I noticed just now that NewEgg raised the price by $16 just because they have them in stock.

-Jason

[heov]

I still bet you get more excited the night before MacWorld I hear g5 is coming soon from IBM that uses some sort of 64 bit processing...

Also, I personally like the design of the Apple Cube better, but It probably wasn't as expandable.

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by heov

I hear g5 is coming soon from IBM that uses some sort of 64 bit processing...

Yeah, and the Unicorn is making a comeback. :wink: I find it amazing that you'd try to dismiss my excitement over the Shuttle like that. You Mac guys are something else...can't a guy be happy about his PC without you feeling insecure? Sheesh!

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by kagayaki1

I actually don't find it to be THAT pricey; here's why...

And remember that it also has the built in video card - not a blazer by any means, but likely decent for 2D work. USB 2.0, Firewire...it all adds up to a really sweet deal.

I put most of it together tonight, and it was VERY easy to do. I'm just choked that I have to wait until next week for the RAM and nVidia card - I thought I could use PC133 SDRAM in there but I can't - I'm a little "behind the times" when it comes to RAM. ;-)