Review: Shuttle SG33G5M barebones PC

A slim, whisper-quiet design with a front LCD screen and remote control

With their extra features, Shuttle's small form factor (SFF) case designs have grown bigger and bigger over the years.

So it's good to see the Shuttle SG33G5M go back to basics, standing just 20cm tall.

In slimming down, there's only space for a single-width PCI Express graphics card, which is a sensible inclusion since Intel's GMA 3100 integrated graphics aren't very powerful.

The chip puts its HDMI to waste as it can't playback content from Blu-ray or HD DVD discs. There's also a VGA output and an HDMI-to-DVI dongle.

An Intel G33-based motherboard, which supports Intel's latest quad and dual-core processors, is fitted with a huge number of ports. Internal cables are well routed as internal scaffolding keeps everything in place.

We fitted the SG33G5M with high-end components and found it whisper-quiet in operation thanks to an intricate CPU heatsink, with heatpipes that transfer heat to the back of the unit where a fan whisks the hot air away. It was so quiet, in fact, that all we could hear was a stream of clicks from the hard disk.

A single 5.25in bay for an optical drive joins two 3.5in bays, one of which has a front-opening door so it could be used by a hot-swappable disk, card reader or even a floppy drive.

A translucent mirror finish and gold trimmings frame a neat LCD screen, which displays information such as date and time. A classy brushed metal and plastic remote control features a power button, which ensures you never need bend down to your PC to turn it on and off.

We're impressed with Shuttle's latest case. And for £269, which includes a 250W power supply, the price is reasonable.