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Small desktop computer from Shuttle

While Acer designed some very impressive nettop computers based on Intel’s Atom processors and nVidia’s ION graphics chips, Shuttle managed to squeeze a whole computer into a box almost as small as a desktop optical drive.

Shuttle’s new mini-ITX case design measures only 25.2cm x 3.85cm x 16.2cm, longer than a desktop optical drive, but a little thinner. While from the outside it looks very stylish, the inside is very full, there’s basically no space left for efficient air cooling, and that’s why Shuttle warns against placing the unit on its side (blocking the small ventilation holes).

The whole system is based on passive cooling solutions made possible by the low-power Atom processor and a slightly more power-hungry nVidia ION2 graphics processor. Shuttle chose the Intel Atom D510 dual core processor, but it could have gone with the slightly faster Atom D525 which has the same TDP of 13Watts together with the integrated Intel GMA X3150 graphics processor, present in both processors. The nVidia ION2 graphics processor equipped with 512MB of DDR3 memory consumes an amount of power between 6 and 12Watts, but what we know for sure is that the whole system doesn’t go over 29Watts at full load (thanks to HWUpgrade.IT) and idles at 20watts. Add to that an 18.5” monitor with a 13Watt power consumption (or 17Watt 21.5” FullHD monitor) and you’ve got a very efficient computer system for multimedia, web browsing and basic 3D gaming.

13Watts of power is not much to work with, but the dual core Atom processor manages to run Windows 7 Home Premium without any problems, thanks to HyperThreading and 2GB of installed system memory (upgradable to at least 4GB).

The internal optical drive is a big plus when compared to other nettop computers, although it can boot from any USB device (HDD, flash drive, optical drive…etc.) too. Hard drive capacity has been increased to 500GB, figuring that with all the connectivity options and the internal optical drive the user will most likely put a lot of data, video, music, applications and games on the internal storage device. Yes, this little PC supports Wi-Fi B, G and N mode too at 150MBPS maximum speed, while a traditional 10/100MBPS LAN port can be found too (in the back of the case). Four USBs are in the back, one in the front, completing the easily accessible connectivity options offered by the optical drive and memory card reader. All other ports are in the back: audio, DC input (from an external 40Watt AC/DC power adapter), HDMI and analog VGA for optimal compatibility.

The Shuttle XS 3510MA has one impractical feature too, the possibility to mount it on the back of an LCD monitor. This doesn’t make a lot of sense if you compare its size to the size of a 21.5” FullHD monitor (which it is fully capable of managing). Shuttles efforts in trying to reduce the system’s size makes ports and the optical drive harder to access behind a large monitor.

Retail price of this little masterpiece is around 525EUROs (+VAT) including the Windows 7 Home Premium license, a bit too much if you look at other mini-PCs without optical drives.