Shuttle: Highlights from CES 2008 in Las Vegas
 Spotlight on the lower price Mini-PC "KPC" with Linux
Once again this year the Consumer Electronics Show was the showcase for everything in the sector that’s new and especially for everything that's fun. In 2008 Shuttle, the Mini-PC market leader and manufacturer of Multi-Form Factor solutions, had lots to show the public in both of these areas.
The wide range of new products presented at the show was spearheaded by the Shuttle KPC. The Linux-based Mini-PC is ideally suited for simple applications and therefore comes with an extremely attractive price tag. The KPC is based on the Intel 945GC chip set and has been designed for various Intel processors (from Celeron to Core 2 Duo) and DDR2 memory. It comes with integrated graphics, a network connection, space for two SATA hard disks and USB 2.0 interfaces, but with no optical drive. Its price is not the only thing that’s tiny. With dimensions of just 28 x 19 x 17 cm (DWH) it certainly doesn’t take any deskspace away from the coffee cup or hole punch. The European market launch is planned for the end of February 2008.
New high-end products for enthusiasts launched
As a technical highlight Shuttle has integrated a water cooling system suitable for series production into a Shuttle XPC for the first time. The liquid cooling system cools the high-end processor and the graphics card in a XPC Barebone SX48P2 Deluxe. The latter is the first SFF PC barebone based on Intel's X48 Express chipset that even supports DDR3 memory when it goes on sale in March 2008. That this power house also dovetails perfectly with the latest Intel processors goes without saying. The “Deluxe” tag represents a truly comprehensive package of features including fingerprint scanner, Speed-Link, WLAN and Bluetooth all making this Mini-PC even more secure and extraordinarily versatile. The water cooling system referred to above is not one of the features of the XPC Barebone SX48P2 Deluxe whose rapid processors are controlled by the proven, highly-effective Heatpipe-Cooling Technology.
Of course also on show at the CES was the Shuttle XPC Barebone SX38P2 Pro – for a few days now available to the trade. This Mini-PC captivated audiences with its two PCI-Express-2.0 slots which can support up to two graphics cards in crossfire mode. Ideal for higher performance for gamers or for up to four monitors for more effective work.
Of course the new models for the AMD platform were also announced in Las Vegas. The Shuttle XPC Barebones SA78SH7 and SN78SH3 are ideal for the new Phenom Multi-Core Processors with Socket AM2+. In order to also harness the performance of the new AMD processors on large monitors, both Barebones include an HDMI interface. Good sound on both devices is ensured with Dolby® Digital Live! & DTS Connect, which enable an audio playback over up to eight loudspeakers. The integrated graphics processor is ideal for applications with DirectX 10 and can therefore display demanding graphics effects itself.
In the Las Vegas Convention Center fully-equipped Shuttle Mini-PCs were really put through their paces and thoroughly tested. Many visitors took the opportunity to convince themselves of the high speed of such a small PC.
The next big event is CeBIT in Hannover (Germany) and once again many innovations are expected from the leading Mini-PC manufacturer. 2008 continues to be exciting. |