Shuttle's KPC ready for prime time, starts at $299 for a ready-made unit

It sounds like Shuttle was being a little optimistic in January when it promised a $99 barebones PC and a $199 version with a full complement of internals and a Linux OS. That said, the KPC is still a decent deal, with the K45 barebones kit including quite a bit to be getting on with for $199, and the K4500 pre-configured system offering an Intel Celeron 430 processor, 512MB of RAM, an 80GB HDD and Foresight Linux pre-installed. Other perks that are present even in the barebones kit include Intel GMA 950 graphics, gigabit Ethernet, 5.1 audio, WiFi and a decent bit of room to grow. Newegg should start selling the K45 this weekend, while Shuttle will be selling a user configurable K4500 soon.

[Thanks, Curtis B.]

[Ayman @ Mar 16th 2008 8:05AM]

It reminds me of the black box that are put in Airplanes
but 99 dollars for this... i have to think about

[Ayman @ Mar 16th 2008 8:06AM]

the blue one still rocks though

[FTY @ Mar 16th 2008 9:00AM]

They are actually orange.

[willi @ Mar 26th 2008 10:01PM]

Airplane blackboxes are actually bright yellow~~

[Tits @ Mar 16th 2008 9:02AM]

can you put any cpu you want?

[Kidman13 @ Mar 16th 2008 10:52AM]

This version accepts any Pentium D/Core 2 Duo Socket 775 CPU.

[Tits @ Mar 16th 2008 10:57AM]

even a q6600???

imagine stock 10 of those for a render farm!

[cmajewski @ Mar 16th 2008 12:46PM]

I just configured one on Shuttle's site with:

INTEL CORE 2 DUO E4500 2.2GHZ 800MHZ 2MB LGA775
160GB SATA300 7200RPM 8MB Buffer HDD
2GB (2X1GB) PC2-5300 667MHZ DDR2 NON-ECC

All for $390.00...not bad...of course that's with Foresite Linux, monitor, keyboard and mouse...but still pretty tempting.

[Scuba Steve @ Mar 16th 2008 9:02AM]

I love shuttle PCs...and the price of this unit is fantastic. It's a perfect choice for a silver surfer. I just built a shuttle running Ubuntu for my 78 year-old mother...and for the first time, she has a PC that is no longer significantly vulnerable to spyware or viruses...and it is small and nonthreatening to her. This unit would have been an even better choice given how quiet it is sure to be with such low power requirements. That said, I think they made a major mistake in not including a CD/DVD...or even a slot for one. Folks use CD/DVDs for more than just software installation. My mother listens to CDs and watches DVDs.

[David Clark @ Mar 16th 2008 9:25AM]

Companies keep coming out with these cheap linux PC's, but nobody really seems interested. Laptops are different, of course, but desktops.. I mean, the gPC was pulled from Wal-Mart just a few weeks back because it wasn't what people wanted.

[kev @ Mar 16th 2008 9:48AM]

The difference is that a Shuttle has more utility--especially if there is a barebones options.

[George Washington Carver @ Mar 17th 2008 7:30AM]

No, it's not what "walmart shoppers" wanted. So even though all the units that the selected walmarts had sold out, walmart realized that people who know things about computers don't go to walmart to buy them.

[Jeebus @ Mar 16th 2008 11:06AM]

Think NAS replacment. Lot's of NASs easily go for more than this with much lower specs.

[bobartig @ Mar 16th 2008 2:21PM]

@Jeebus: But a lot of those NAS boxes (like Infrant, which is now Netgear), can carry 4 drives, unlike this little guy that can only handle 1.

[Jeebus @ Mar 17th 2008 12:18PM]

@bobartig: Granted, but I think that's just a matter of time before a large case is offered. I can't see that add much to the cost. Plus, many people use a NAS more as cheap home server than a RAID, and for those people, NAS just does not make sense anymore.

[elchubi @ Mar 16th 2008 9:43AM]

If I read correct 199 is for the Celeron one, the 299 is a more complete KPC
I am still optimistic about the 99 barebones one

[noimjosh @ Mar 16th 2008 10:31AM]

$199 at newegg gets you the celeron, 512MB RAM and 80GB hdd. $299 at shuttle.com gets you E2140 1.6ghz, 1GB RAM, 160GB hdd - and you can customize it to make the price go up...

I'm not sure about newegg (which is generally fairly cheap on shipping), but I know the shipping on the basic unit from shuttle is something like $55, so the price continues to rise...

[motang @ Mar 16th 2008 10:52AM]

Looks cool, I am in the market for a new desktop but will be building on as I need something bit a more powerful that will last me another 5 years like my current desktop. :-)

[Sam @ Mar 16th 2008 11:07AM]

If they want to preload these cheap PC's with Linux, why not Ubuntu
People are not going to switch from XP or OS X ro anything but the distro with the most support and the widest range of applications

[zargon @ Mar 16th 2008 11:32AM]

Ubuntu is popular right now and does do a good job of making it easy to install linux. But it is not the end all linux distro, there are other distros out there that are just as easy to install, they simply are not getting the over hyped press that Ubuntu is getting.

Don't get me wrong, Ubuntu is good. But Debian (what Ubuntu is based on), Fedora, openSuSE, Slackware, CentOS, Mandriva and Sabayon are also good choices.

[Sam @ Mar 16th 2008 7:26PM]

@ zargon
I know, seeing as i have a Xandros Eee that i use happily
But the overyhyped distros get support proportional to the hype

[Tubalcain @ Mar 16th 2008 11:33AM]

Interesting, However I don't see at least one PCI E slot for expansion. I would like to see a version for HTPC use. I'm really not feeling Intel GMA...

[hackman @ Mar 16th 2008 11:37AM]

Wow it looks like the case alone would be $299

[Mike @ Mar 16th 2008 11:42AM]

I bought a Shuttle a couple of years ago. Audio did not work and the company refused to repair it (I bought it in one country, but live in another -- good excuse, huh?). Almost two years later, they contacted me and said they felt bad and would fix it. The audio worked (for a while, it stopped working again) and they never even checked the machine -- the PCI slots don't work.

In summation: crappy product with even worse customer support. They aren't called Shittle for nothing.

[N30 G30 @ Mar 16th 2008 3:21PM]

what mobo was it using?

[Mike @ Mar 16th 2008 3:38PM]

Sorry, I don't know off hand. But I think it's the model on this page:
http://www.poochie.net/computers.shtml

[pokey @ Mar 17th 2008 12:08AM]

I had an SN41G2 (not V2) which developed an inability to turn on sometimes. I tracked it down to a bad capacitor in the PSU that filtered the standby +5V. At least two other people I know have had this happen to theirs. I never tried their support (happened ~2 years after I got it) but I'm pretty sure a company that would put out a flaky system like that wouldn't have good support.

[huh @ Mar 16th 2008 12:13PM]

Finally a nice little box for a good price.. will be interested to read quality reports. Not nearly as sleek as a Mac Mini, you can tell Shuttle doesn't have or can't be bothered to throw resources to really streamline it and get rid of the PS/2, and printer ports (what a joke) for example.

Unfortunately there's only a PCI expansion slot, the integrated graphics will be barely good enough for typical uses, and forget any advanced game playing. And it has such a minimal power supply, I'm sure people will have to be very careful which CPU and add-ons they use, I wonder if it could reliably support a TV Tuner card in the PCI slot?

Regardless, it'd be an ok internet connection point and minimal media pc with an external optical drive, especially for newbies, if Asus' choice of Linux includes DVD playing software. Unfortunately this is a very sore spot in Linux's idealized (Free) world, for example Ubuntu doesn't support DVD playing (in many countries) without illegal hacks. Thanks, electronics (not consumer) protectionists.

[huh @ Mar 16th 2008 12:21PM]

Umm.. replying to one's own comment is slightly less lame than not having comment editing.. anyway.. I meant Shuttle, not Asus, above. It is too bad they couldn't have gone with an established distro, since there are really already enough.

[bobartig @ Mar 16th 2008 2:18PM]

It's surprisingly big, considering what comes in the box. You'd think once they eliminated the optical drive, it would get a lot smaller, but this is 6.5x the size of a Mac Mini and can't even take one. The MyKover's are cute, especially the line drawings of birds and trees.

Their website is really creeping me out, what with the bizarre Engrish (SIZE UP THE CAPACITY!), and the photoshopped monitor that you can't actually buy.

[huh @ Mar 16th 2008 3:19PM]

It's bigger because it has a PCI slot and takes full size 3.5" drives.. plus they don't have the r&d of apple to make everything fit nicely. But the MyKover idea makes up for it, IMO... next step would be a big OLED.

But yeah, these companies are all over the map. They know that "design" has become important, people aren't happy anymore with the latest crap slapped together in a beige box, but the reality is, unfortunately, any company that doesn't value real design virtues and complete control over parts and software from the ground up will always have Frankenstein products, with design grafted on at the last minute. I'm hardly an Apple shill when I say that, and I don't think that Apple ultimately has it in them to be real leaders, just niche players.

[ScOObyDoo @ Mar 16th 2008 12:20PM]

100 watt power supply makes it pretty useless for anything other than the most basic of uses.

[zargon @ Mar 16th 2008 12:38PM]

Luckily, that is exactly what it geared for, basic use... weird.

[Sunny @ Mar 16th 2008 12:55PM]

Wow! Nice Machine!
But the CPU Performance... umm...

[emdee @ Mar 16th 2008 1:23PM]

Haha, 2008: year of the desktop linux... because of cheapo computers :D

[emdee @ Mar 16th 2008 1:23PM]

Haha, 2008: year of the desktop linux... because of cheapo computers :D

[Jon @ Mar 16th 2008 3:06PM]

I'm confused...once you buy the barebones kit, do you also have to buy the actual processor, memory, etc. separately, or how does that work?

[Pauan @ Mar 16th 2008 7:34PM]

It depends on both the manufacturer and the actual barebones system itself. Most barebones come with a case and motherboard; nothing else. You supply the RAM, CPU, GPU, HDD, etc. The nice thing is it's often much much cheaper than buying a computer premade. The downside is that you have to put all the stuff in yourself. In this case they seem to be offering a lot more than a typical barebones system, but Newegg might be different.

[gandiwashere @ Mar 17th 2008 12:14AM]

this isnt a barebones kit, its a full computer

[Khoa Khuong @ Mar 16th 2008 4:24PM]

I was hoping for an external AC-DC power adapter, not this bound-to-be-whiny PSU with a 40mm fan. Looks like I'm heading your way, Asus.

[YoMomma @ Mar 16th 2008 4:35PM]

put windows xp on it please?

[brokenkeyboard @ Mar 16th 2008 5:18PM]

I'm sure you can if you want?

and if you don't want to, you don't have to pay for a license you won't use.

[Ryan Trevisol @ Mar 16th 2008 5:09PM]

Actually OSX would run pretty nice on there actually. :)

[painty @ Mar 16th 2008 6:15PM]

where can you order this from Canada?

[brianjones @ Mar 16th 2008 8:00PM]

Is it going to be a noisy little thing? My old shuttle sounds awful. I bought it cause it was cute and small and would set proudly on my desk. After a few days I realized it was putting it alot of fan noise and had to hide it away where it could not be heard. That truly defeated the purpose.
I'm confused by the fact that on the web site the call this one a KPC and a XPC.

[gxti @ Mar 17th 2008 12:03AM]

It's no silent PC, but it's not that bad. Also, for those who are wondering about the choice of Linux distro (Foresight), it's actively maintained if not very well known - not some crappy thing thrown together by the vendor. And yes, it plays DVDs.

[Mike Street @ Mar 16th 2008 8:39PM]

Wow this is a perfect option for the kids/mom at home who will only check e-mail and print out a report. Beats the $1600 i dropped on my laptop

[RichardBronosky @ Mar 17th 2008 12:28AM]

NO DVI!!! Why on Earth are they putting VGA on these things? If it had DVI, this could easily drive a plasma!

[RobJ @ Mar 17th 2008 2:09AM]

I agree... can't believe they've only including VGA. And there's no PCI-E slot, so there's no way to upgrade that even if you wanted too.

[Leerlaufprozess @ Mar 17th 2008 8:22AM]

What about some old PCI-graphics card like the NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200? They all got DVI-Ports.