Thinking of going small form factor...:D

[Kebab]

As it says in the title am considering getting a shuttle PC that I would build, basically I am torn between a laptop and a shuttle. The shuttle is interesting because it is fairly powerful and transportable. I need to be able to move my computer fairly easily (with the screen) but i am not fussed about having it on my lap while watching TV. The laptop would be hassle free but more expensive and i wouldnt be able to get exactly what i want while the shuttle would able me to do that ( I think) for less money. Well coming back to the subject, I wanted your opinion on the following specs:


Product Name Price Total
# Shuttle PN15 802.11g Wireless LAN Module (Fits all models) (BARSHUACCPN15) £33.95 £33.95

#Shuttle SN45G V3 Mini Aluminium Barebone system for AMD Socket A, LAN, SATA, USB2, Firewire, RAID, 6ch. Audio. (BARSHUSN45GV3) £114.95 £114.95

#AMD Sempron 2800+ Retail Box inc Fan (3 year warranty) skt A (CPUSEM.2800) £50.99 £50.99

#250 GB Seagate Barracuda SATA 7200rpm 8MB cache (Manufacturer's 5yr Warranty) (HAR250SEASA72) £78.99 £78.99

#Powercolor ATI Radeon 9600XT 256MB DDR 8x AGP, DVI, TV Out, Retail (VIDPOW96X256DT) £75.95 £75.95

#NEC ND-3520 16x16 Dual Layer Beige DVD +/- R/RW oem (DVDNECND3520*) £29.99 £29.99

#Sony Beige 1.44MB 3.5" FDD (FLOSON) £5.00 £5.00

#17" Samsung SM710V Silver TFT 16ms Analogue 3yrs Onsite (MON17SAM710VS) £130.99 £130.99

#Creative I-Trigue® 2200 speaker system (SPECRE2200I) £26.55 £26.55

#Corsair® 512MB XMS 3200 DDR 400MHz with Heat Spreader (CMX512-3200C2) x2 (MEMCORXM512D32) £47.95 £95.90

Shipping STANDARD (1-3 DAYS)PRE 10:00AM (NEXT DAY)PRE 12:00NOON (NEXT DAY)SATURDAY (NEXT DAY)EVENING (NEXT DAY)PRIORITY (NEXT DAY) £5.00 £5.00

Total Order Weight 18.65 kg
Total Price Excluding VAT £600.31
VAT @ 17.5% £105.06
Total Price Including VAT £753.32

The whole lot is from Micro direct, I basically wanted somehitng that would allow me to do a fair ammount at the same time (explorer, FM2005, word and winamp or WMP are the ones i tend to run at the same time) and wireless lan cause I cant be bothered with the cable and I may have to travel to places (and stay there for a while )with wireless network but no wired ones.

The questions I had are: Is this spec balanced?, would I get much much cheaper ordering elsewhere?, am I missing something? could i get a better cooler for my CPU (could I fit a 120mm and a suitable heatsink on it?)

Any comment would be much appreciated.

Cheers,
Keb

[schmunk]

TBH (and fanboys may shout at me for this), if you like multitasking and are not so bothered about massive 3D-gaming performance, you may be better of with a P4-based system with hypethreading (sic).

It's likely that a P4 system would be a more expensive for the same performance.

Other than that, this system looks fairly balanced - if you have any aspirations to play the latest 3D games you may want to consider buying 'standard' RAM (see bargain hunt forum for cheap 'elixir' RAM) and spending the extra on a better graphics card.

[Kebab]

if you have any aspirations to play the latest 3D games you may want to consider buying 'standard' RAM (see bargain hunt forum for cheap 'elixir' RAM) and spending the extra on a better graphics card.

Cheers, I suppose i could shave £30 of the ram add that and a bit to the GFX and buy a 6600. Would a passively cooled non GT be comformtable in that system or would it heat up too much?

[Atomic]

Id not bother with the shuttle WLAN and just get a quality PCI based one...

[schmunk]

Cheers, I suppose i could shave £30 of the ram add that and a bit to the GFX and buy a 6600. Would a passively cooled non GT be comformtable in that system or would it heat up too much?

You should be OK, but be careful to ensure that it will physically fit inside the case!

[menthel]

You could always try a 2500+ mobile processor. Can be tweaked nicely in the SN45G. They have them in www.cpucity.co.uk.

[Tifosi]

Id not bother with the shuttle WLAN and just get a quality PCI based one...

Ditto, that Shuttle PN15 is rather dodgy to say the least. I think there is an updated module on the horizon but not sure if it works with the older models i.e. SN45G. Plus the PN15 is way over priced - it always has been!

[schmunk]

You could always try a 2500+ mobile processor. Can be tweaked nicely in the SN45G. They have them in www.cpucity.co.uk.

I concur

[badprogrammer]

Depending on how much mobility do you really want I guess.

Shuttle is cool, I own one and its great. However, its really not that easy to
carry it around on your shoulder coz its still fairly heavy. I tried it by bringing
my shuttle box to school to perform a demo. However, I got sore back after
I came home. Also, its even harder to carry your monitor around.

btw, I just realised that this is a UK forum, no wonder I saw UK dollar symbol
(£) everywhere in every thread.

[Rqyteqto]

You got a sore back from carrying a Shuttle around for a day?

Did you have a backpack to carry it in? If not, then that's your problem. If you did have a backpack to carry, then you need to take a look at your physical condition. I carry one around and I'm an old handicapped man who walks with a cane.