Shuttle's AMD-powered XPC G5 6801M loves Blu-ray and HD DVD

While Shuttle's KPC most certainly wasn't aimed at the enthusiast in the crowd, its newest XPC definitely is. The XPC G5 6801M gets going with an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ processor, 2GB of DDR2 RAM, a 320GB hard drive, LG's GGC-H20L Blu-ray / HD DVD combo drive, ATI's 256MB HD 3450 graphics card, a DVB-T tuner, 25-in-1 multicard reader and 7.1-channel audio output. Moreover, you'll find gigabit Ethernet, FireWire, a slew of USB / eSATA ports, DVI / VGA out (DVI-HDMI adapter thrown in) and a bundled remote to make your life even easier. If you're digging where this is going, you can latch on to one of these boxes for €1,091 ($1,727), and if you've turned a cold shoulder to HD DVD, a BD-only unit can be had for €167 ($264) less.

[Via Bios Magazine]

[RCL1221 @ Apr 11th 2008 9:03AM]

Nice to know that you don't have to pay for the dead-platform if you don't want to.

[Flashpoint @ Apr 11th 2008 11:17AM]

The HDDVD should be completely free.
Why is it $264 less? I don't even think there are still HDDVD players that cost that much after the fire sales.

[Deputy Doffoos @ Apr 11th 2008 12:01PM]

No Beta support?¿!?

I'll pass

[whoelse @ Apr 11th 2008 1:38PM]

Yeah why support HD DVD if its so dead.

[|Geektorious Maximus| @ Apr 11th 2008 9:03AM]

Sweet looking rig, now I just need $1,800 bucks to get it or..........................engadget giveaway! Me first I thought it up!

[Bobs @ Apr 11th 2008 9:08AM]

I wish engadget would put something interesting up, how about Veronica Belmont?
(please dont ban me ryan, i kid!)

[Timmy @ Apr 11th 2008 9:17AM]

Veronica ditched Mahallo and is now with Revision 3.

[Bobs @ Apr 11th 2008 9:09AM]

Opps, would should be should

[Dave @ Apr 11th 2008 9:12AM]

Why would anyone choose to pay for the more expensive hd dvd variant when there is no hd dvd anymore... what a waste.

[flipper @ Apr 11th 2008 9:14AM]

Perhaps like me they have some hd-dvd's they might like to play? Or, ahem, backup at some point?

[|Geektorious Maximus| @ Apr 11th 2008 9:23AM]

Question why doesn't Toshiba just market HDDVD as a backup for professionals...worked for SCSI and Iomega. Sure you won't have the revenue from the "The Big Four" from movies and music but you can still make some change.

[telepheedian @ Apr 11th 2008 11:00AM]

The problem is that Sony already has this market with XDCAM and such. Plus, Blu-ray holds more than HD-DVD, in that case, storage is more important than a completed consumer disc spec.

[The Cadet @ Apr 11th 2008 9:19AM]

Nice

[Neeko @ Apr 11th 2008 9:24AM]

I really love shuttles..Built one 5yrs ago with a custom case i cut two windows out., and my ExGf still uses the damn thing.. but that price is just waay to much. Id rather build it myself and choose my own parts.

[nak @ Apr 11th 2008 9:28AM]

25-in-1 multicard reader? Have there actually been 25 card formats?

[Sir Fatty @ Apr 11th 2008 9:31AM]

No, they just made up some to inflate the numbers.

[Rollins @ Apr 11th 2008 10:21AM]

SM / XD / CF I / CF II / MD /CF-Ultra II / CF Extreme / SD / MMC / MMC II / MMC 4.0 / RS MMC / HS MMC / Mini SD(w/ adapter*) / SD-Ultra II / T-Flash(w/ adapter*) / MS / MS PRO / MS Duo / MS PRO Duo(MG) / MS PRO(MG) / MS(MG) / HS MS PRO(MG) / HS MS PRO DUO(MG) / MS PRO Ultra II

From the website of another 25-in-one card reader. So yeah, they're stretching it a bit.

[maff @ Apr 11th 2008 11:13AM]

i think there are about 18 card formats, but over 50 iterations of these formats

[Andy D @ Apr 11th 2008 9:32AM]

Seems more logical to get the barebones version of that case and add in your own parts. The combo drive shouldn't cost that much and it certainly won't cost $1,800 to build a pc out of the barebones version. You can get a combo drive for less than $200.

[Dan Z @ Apr 11th 2008 10:12AM]

And, you could easily get a more powerful Dell (or any other) for the $1700. I guess you pay for that small form factor

[ScreamingSkull @ Apr 11th 2008 2:02PM]

I just ordered one of their barebones to replace my aging ASUS Espresso HTpc, most amazing things ever.

[iofthestorm @ Apr 11th 2008 9:44AM]

http://www.tweaktown.com/news/9294/index.html
Asus's version is similarly specced but half the price, what gives? Asus's looks nicer too.

[Ruben @ Apr 11th 2008 10:18AM]

This is about $800 too expensive for what it is.

Give my $900 and ill build something greatly superior.

[Joel @ Apr 11th 2008 12:31PM]

I don't see WiFi mentioned in the article, but I'm pretty sure that's an wireless NIC antenna sticking out the back...

[whiskey @ Apr 11th 2008 1:50PM]

HD DVD would make sense as a backup solution... You would not need the settop players, because you would only need to store files on the discs. Those files could be backed up roms of your games, TONS of music or many backed up movies.

HD DVD should be kept alive as a DVD replacement for pc's that cannot (or should not, as in "at the office") go the BluRay way.

[andy @ Apr 11th 2008 2:42PM]

Damn! Overprice much?

Aside from the price of the entire unit which is captain insano, 264 for the difference between HDDVD and no HDDVD?

The BRD writer on newegg is 125. The BRD/HDDVD writer combo is 175. It's been a long time since I had math, but I think that's 50 bucks, or about a 500% markup on the difference in cost between BRD only and HDDVD in the LG drives.

[Armoured @ Apr 12th 2008 10:34PM]

the disc is upside down