Review: Shuttle Mini X 100HA small form factor PC

A compact PC with notebook components, but just who is it aimed at?

The Mini X 100HA is part of Shuttle’s new X 100 range of small form factor PCs.

This model is much smaller than Shuttle's XPC P 2500G , covering the same area as an A4 sheet and a little over two inches deep. It weighs 3.4kg, so is mobile enough to move about the house.

The case is compact and has a retro look that isn't totally dissimilar to a tape cassette player from 20 years ago. You can leave it lying flat or stand it on its side.

The slot-loading DVD burner and metallic strip along the front add to its stylish look, something that Shuttle PCs have been known for.

But while some will no doubt find this particular model attractive, it doesn’t measure up to the high standard of the designs that Shuttle has released in the past, such as its M1000 Media Center .

The external power supply is bulky, but since it isn’t housed in the case there is no need for a noisy fan. As a result, this PC runs pretty quiet.

An Intel Core Duo T2050 running at 1.6GHz powers the X 100HA on a specially constructed motherboard. It’s not the fastest setup out there, but dual-core processors can be used to great effect by media software. In our benchmarks it scored 169 in Sysmark 2004 SE and 3,291 in PCmark05.

Graphics are powered by an ATI Mobility Radeon X1400; a GPU usually found in the thin and light class of notebooks.

The Mobility Radeon X1400 has no problem in providing smooth DVD playback, though it doesn't fare so well when it comes to high-end gaming.

The Mini X 100HA notched up a 3Dmark05 score of 1,700 and maintained 34fps (frames per second) in Far Cry, but you'll need to drop detail levels and resolutions if you want to play the latest games.

Connecting up to a home network should be no problem with a Gigabit Ethernet port and an internal 802.11g 54Mbits/sec wireless card. A 4-in-1 reader sitting at the front supports SD, MMC, Sony Memory Stick and Memory Stick Pro cards, which will be useful if you want to quickly transfer photos from your digicam.

No keyboard, mouse or monitor is supplied with the Mini X 100HA. A DVI output port to hook up your monitor is supplied along with S-video for analogue TV output.

Although there are no PS2 ports for your peripherals, there are five USB ports.

Somewhat annoyingly, two of them are bunched tightly beside the Ethernet port, so don’t expect to plug chunky connectors in and out easily.

One USB port is located at the front and there’s also a Firewire port, and an S/PDIF output port at the back along with the usual microphone and headphone sockets.

If you decide to upgrade the Mini X 100HA you'll run in to some problems. There’s no room for any PCI cards or extra hard disks, and the Ram is of the SO-Dimm notebook variety with both slots occupied.

Aside from an issue with only having 512MB of Ram, should you upgrade to Windows Vista the current specifications are perfectly capable of powering an entertainment PC for the next few years.

No matter how powerful the internals of this PC are, it lacks many of the features you’d expect from an entertainment PC. Because it’s so compact we understand the omission of a TV tuner say (although an external model could be used), but other things that have been left out like a wireless remote control, Bluetooth connectivity and Windows XP Media Center Edition.

The lack of DVD navigation and audio controls along the front also seriously hamper the X 100HA’s usability.

For the price of this PC, you could invest in a notebook with screen, keyboard and mouse built-in. Alternatively, you could save some money and get an Intel-based Apple Mac Mini.

We feel that Shuttle has built the X 100HA because it can, rather than for any practical purpose. As the XPC P 2500G and M1000 Media Center PCs show, Shuttle is capable of much more.

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