Loading ...
Loading ...
Ok, so my days of wandering through Microcenter’s Apple area pondering whether to buy a NEW Mac Mini are over. It was a short lived dream… or nightmare; I haven’t figured that out yet. Apple almost had me until Shuttle announced its XS35 at Computex this year. The Shuttle XS35 is a new addition to the X Series and sets a new bar, raising the stakes once again. Shuttle’s new addition is just 1.5 inches wide and is about the same size as the very enticing Mac Mini. The XS35 sports an optical drive, and optional HDMI port, a dual core Intel Atom D510 Processor and an Nvidia ION graphics controller capable of true 1080p resolutions, 2GB of RAM, and uses the SPA platform.
The Intel D510 processor is a 45nm dual core processor with 1MB of L2 cache, a processing speed of 1.66 GHz, 64-bit, and can support up to 4GB of RAM.
The unit also sports, an Ethernet port (speed yet to be announced), integrated wireless, 4 USB ports, VGA, HDMI, Power, and audio connections. The simplistic front sports your optical drive (no news on Blu-ray support yet, but I bet it could be done), a multi card reader and a singularly lonely USB port. Hard Drive capacity is not known yet.
The design of the XS35 allows the unit to operate with passive cooling as the enclosure itself doesn’t contain a single fan. The chassis design allows adequate heat dissipation without the need of fans, making it perfect for those of us that don’t want to hear anything other than our surround sound systems.
Another perk of the Shuttle system is that you are free to choose your OS. The PC platform allows you to select the operating system of your choice allowing me to run Windows 7 and manage my HTPC experience with Media Center and utilize my Windows Home Server for automatic backups and media distribution.
So now you must be thinking, how much can this machine cost? Well considering the Mac Mini weighs in at a hefty $699 USD and incorporates much of the same technology that the Shuttle machine does one would think they would be similarly priced. WRONG! The Pine Trail version runs at $199.99 and the ION version for $299 making this one of THE MOST ATTRACTIVE HTPC options on the market… PERIOD!
Does the price quoted on the Shuttle include an operating system? (as the price quoted on the Mac Mini does). If you’re adding the cost of Win7, the price difference is not as great as it’s made out to be…
I would assume so as it is not advertised as a barebone system… even if it didn’t, purchasing an OS for this and the hardware still make it less than half the price of the mac mini.
I don’t know about about the half price, because i all I could find was the base model listed at $399 on the shuttle website, which was with half the RAM and half the HD space of the base mac mini and also without the ION option, which I assume is the HDMI option, which would be another $100 on top of that? And without looking at CPU performance comparisons too closely, the mac is running the core 2 duo at 2.4ghz, whereas the shuttle is 1.66ghz atom. I’m guessing the core 2 duo would be better than the atom? So $499 vs $699 for a better specced machine.
Considering that there is only a “pre-order” option for the x350 and doesn’t detail what is exactly included. I would hold off on the price guessing.
lol, but isn’t the whole point of the article about how the Shuttle is like the Mini but is less than half the price??? The closing paragraph of the article is ALL about the price really.
The information about pricing was pre-product release and given by a Shuttle Representative at Computex. I don’t control the pricing… nor do I control the time lines for manufacturers to release products. However, the article was written at a time when the price was quoted at 199 (without ION) and 299 (with ION). Let’s hold off on the pricing discussions until the actual product is released and online retailers are able to sell it. Then we might see the prices quoted by the Shuttle Rep at computex.
Wait, is someone actually trying to slam windows?? I guess they like paying double the price for all their hardware. Good luck with that, buddy!
Windows has nothing to do with Hardware costs, its the open platform in which you can install it and competition between hardware manufacturers that gives users the best deals. Apple is the only one that makes Mac stuff so they can inflate it however they see fit.
Yeah, It might cost less, but it is still a far inferior product on which you must run Windows. It’s also ugly. Other than that, Kudos!
What is wrong with running Windows? As far as an HTPC is concerned, the flexibility of running windows is a huge advantage. Everyone has their personal preference about which operating system is superior, however, in the HTPC area, you gain far more by using windows. This total solution (with bluetooth keyboard and mouse) will be less than half the cost of the Mac Mini.
I knew it! I knew you wouldn’t defect!!
Came close…