Shuttle SD11G5

A couple of weeks ago, Shuttle announced the XPC SD11G5 - their first XPC supporting Intel's Pentium M and i915GM chipset. It is also the first Shuttle XPC since the Zen to use an external power supply unit. It includes PCMCIA slot for laptop wireless cards, Creative 7.1 channel sound, fabulous 'G5' styling and tons of outputs. Is this the next LAN rig, the next elegant and silent desktop platform, or is it the Mac Mini killer? We find out over the next few pages.

Overview

• Full support for all Socket 479 Pentium M processors - all Celeron M and Pentium M processors using a 400/533MHz front side bus
  
• Intel i915GM and ICH6M
  
• Two 240-pin, 400/533MHz DDR2 memory slots, supporting both single or dual channel modes and up to 2GB maximum memory
  
• Creative 7.1 channel audio
  
• Broadcom Gigabit LAN
  
• VIA IEEE 1394a Firewire
  
• Two 150MB/s SATA and single ATA100 IDE connectors from ICH6M
  
• PCI-Express x16 and PCI-Express x1 slots
  
• PCMCIA slot
  
• Extra pin-outs for a parallel port and internal USB.

Package Contents

• Shuttle SD11G5 XPC
  
• S-Video to Composite adapter
  
• Single 18cm blue SATA cable
  
• Single ended black ATA100 IDE cable
  
• External PSU
  
• A pair of extra metal feet, with rubber toes so as you don't scratch your desk
  
• Extra screws, cable ties, sticky foam piece
  
• Shuttle manuals and driver CDs

The SD11G5 supports a maximum of 2 SATA drives on the motherboard and in the case, yet, Shuttle only includes a single short SATA cable. Finding a SATA cable under 30cm is exceptionally difficult as you'd not want one much longer when you consider the small size of the G5 XPC. Also, it wouldn't cost Shuttle a great deal to include the extra cable, so it's annoying not to find it in there.

It is uncharacteristic of Shuttle based on our past experiences with the company's products. We have come to expect Shuttle to include absolutely everything you'd ever need, so this is a little surprising and we hope standards aren't slipping. Besides this, everything is included either already in the XPC or in the box as to cover all the needs of every user, as we've come to expect.