MiniTechNet: "MTN Nomination Award"
 Can a PC really be designed for the living room? This is a question the editors of the German IT website MiniTechNet found a clear answer to: Yes, it can - at least the Shuttle XPC Barebone SD36G5M does.
The Shuttle XPC Barebone SD36G5M is "ideal for use in the living room," explain the editors. It is in the first place its design that qualifies it: "We were impressed by its stylish looks." Build quality was described perfect and couldn't have been made better. The punched Shuttle logo on both sides of the case, the brushed aluminium design and the mirrored front panel give this Shuttle XPC Barebone a sleek, but elegant touch: "The mirrored front is a very nice design element." The power and reset button match the front panel and "the drive doors elegantly hide both optical drives and the connectors that can be found in the front panel." The highlight of the front panel surely is the integrated VFD display: "We consider it as a very nice little extra feature."
Turning the system around, the rear side reveals any important interfaces: "Serial port, graphics, SPDIF I/O, PS/2 connectors for keyboard and mouse, 2x USB, Gigabit-LAN, audio in and out, mic-in and a button to reset BIOS," write the editors of MiniTechNet. Designing the interior layout, Shuttle banked on "well-tried things," such as "the removable drive cage for CD/DVD drive and the two 3.5 inch drives." In order to set up the PC you don't need to be an expert. Who doesn't want to use it for its originally intended purpose can build in a PCI-E graphics card that "lets the Shuttle XPC Barebone SD36G5M even play games easily." Thanks to the Smart Fan function fan revolution is regulated by CPU temperature and system load making the Shuttle XPC Barebone SD36G5M run quieter: "Its noise level can thoroughly be considered as moderate."
The editors of MiniTechNet enjoyed the Shuttle XPC Barebone SD36G5M "quite well." It looks good and performancewise it has a lot to offer: "We award the Shuttle XPC SD36G5M our MTN NOMINATION AWARD."
Conclusion:
"Thanks to its sleek, but elegant looks, the Shuttle XPC Barebone SD36G5M is well-prepared to find its way in the living rooms. The mirrored front looks awesome and this eyecatcher is only beaten by the integrated VFD-display. Performancewise, the Shuttle XPC Barebone SD36G5M is not only supposed to serve as a HTPC, but even manages more demanding tasks thanks to its technical layout. Once equipped with an Intel Pentium D dual core processor and a PCI-E graphics card it easily manages games."
Source: www.minitechnet.de |