Shuttle are renowned for their small desktop PC’s. They aren’t known for being extremely cheap (or well made), but it is time for the tides to change with the official release of the KPC series of budget PC’s.
For a starting price of $US299, you get the K 4500 (there is supposed to be a Celeron version for $US199, but who cares about that?). Its insides include an Intel Core 2 Duo E2140, 1GB of RAM, 160GB HDD (limited time offer), Gigabit Ethernet, integrated graphics (Intel GMA 950) and “INTEGRATED 5.1 CHANNEL AUDIO W/DIGITAL PORTS”. With those specs, it will run the included Foresight Linux a treat (it’s a OS).
Yes, it is one of the new generation budget Linux machines, and you do seem to lose a lot of options in the process. The machine has no DVD drive or a space to put one. It only has 1 HDD bay. It only has 1 spare PCI slot, giving you no options for a better graphics option. To top it off, it isn’t really that small a PC, being around the same size as a fully featured Shuttle PC.
It won’t be a very good media PC. It will make an awful NAS box. It will make a pointless LAN gaming PC. On the other hand it will be a fantastic web surfing (or hosting) machine. Your mother will think its cute as she send her 3 emails a year (that all end with send to 10 other people for abundance). If they add a PCI-E slot, I will be on it faster then fat people at a free buffet.
For more info, click over to the lovely Engadget.
