Attractive Little Computer with Plenty of Power
Written: Feb 05 '04
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Pros: Stylish
Powerful
Cons: Difficult to get support
The Bottom Line: A great stylish little computer for people who are comfortable working under the hood themselves.
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| jchastain's Full Review: Shuttle SS 40G (SS40G) PC Desktop |
Much has been written about the demise of the computer as the boring beige box, but few units are as stylish as the shuttle. Paired with a nice flat screen monitor, this is the computer that will elicit ooohs and ahhhs from your friends. It is a fraction of the size of a typical computer and can sit on an exposed desk and actually look stylish.
But good looks isn't all the Shuttle has going for it. This thing was born to run. Supporting the fastest Pentium 4 processors and AGP graphics cards, these little beauties can keep up with the fastest systems out there.
The secret to building a small computer is heat dissipation and Shuttle is a leader in this area. To begin with, the case is made of brushed aluminum. Not only is that attractive, but it also lets the heat seep out of the entire case and not just the fan holes. An innovative heat pipe sits and the CPU and rises up to form a grill in front of the rear fan that acts not unlike a radiator in a car. Instead of just blowing the heat from the CPU up into the case like so many CPU fans, the Shuttle actually blows it out of the case entirely. And the fan speed is adjusted according to internal temperature readings so it will slow down and be quieter when the unit is running nice and cool - at least that's the theory, in reality I find it stays a bit noisier than I would really like (but no more so than most computers out there).
As nice as the shuttle is, it isn't for the feint at heart. They sell as barebones systems so either you have to snap in the CPU, memory and disk drives yourself, or you need to pay someone to do it for you. And if it isn't done quite right, you generally don't have a phone number to call for help like you do with the your local retailer or web superstore. In addition to all of that, I found that I had to visit the website and download several drivers when I first built the machine before I had everything working like I really wanted it - but that really was for fine tuning rather than to get it working and most people wouldn't need to deal with that.
The shuttle is fast, powerful and portable for people who travel between two homes but still prefer a desktop to a notebook computer. But the biggest selling point to me was still its shapely good looks.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 800
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Intel Pentium
Processor speed: over 1000
RAM: More than 256
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): Over 50
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Epinions.com ID:
jchastain
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Reviews written: 6
Trusted by: 0 members
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