Final thoughts and rating

By bringing Intel's H55 platform to its small-form-factor XPC, Shuttle is able to tick many of the boxes on the average consumer's shopping list.

The SH55J2 is compact, smart-looking, able to offer excellent mid-range performance - with room for gaming potential - and it manages to keep power consumption at reasonable levels, too.

It should be close to being the perfect mini PC, but we're not entirely won over, and we'll explain why.

The real innovation in Shuttle's SH55J2 has to be accredited to Intel for its H55 chipset and accompanying processors.

Shuttle has adopted the technology nicely, but despite pioneering the small form factor almost a decade ago, the SH55J2 is a matter of evolution as opposed to revolution. Case in point, the revised "J2" chassis still resembles Shuttle designs from 2002.

The fundamental design still has its merits, of course, but with rival manufacturers vying for the ultra-compact market with complete all-in-one solutions and modern mini-PC designs, Shuttle's barebones approach is starting to look just a little tired.

At £250, it's hard to see where the SH55J2 fits in. Despite its multimedia capabilities, it's arguably too big to be a living-room PC. Despite its expansion options, it's arguably too constrained to be a gaming rig. And, despite being easy to work with, users who prefer to build their own systems can pick up a mini-ITX chassis and an Intel H55 board for around £100 less.

If you're still won over by the Shuttle form factor, the SH55J2 is an evolutionary step that you may want to take. The system is compact, performs well and offers a useful upgrade path to anyone using a pre-Nehalem PC.

The Good

Brings Clarkdale (Core i3/i5) and Lynnfield (Core i5/i7) to the Shuttle form factor
Quiet and compact design
Ample scope for upgrades

The Bad

Resembles the Shuttle you might have bought 10 years ago
A little large for living-room use
No DVI output
Can buy a mini-ITX chassis and H55 board for almost £100 less

HEXUS Rating

Shuttle XPC Barebone SH55J2

HEXUS Where2Buy

The Shuttle XPC Barebone SH55J2 can be purchased from microdirect.co.uk at a cost of £264.38.

HEXUS Right2Reply

At HEXUS, we invite the companies whose products we test to comment on our articles. If any company representatives for the products reviewed choose to respond, we'll publish their commentary here verbatim.

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When looking at the shuttle range why do we feel necessary to compare it to a system we would desire in the living room. These are not designed to be a HTPC. Surely in a day and age where Laptops rule the living room and Atom ion based systems are connected to peoples TV`s. The shuttle system is a refreshing solid designed Desktop with bags of functionality in a small neat design. We could all go for a pre built dell or even as you say buy a Mini ITX Chassis and H55 Motherboard and build our own. This is for people who want quality and sharp design. They don't want to conform they want a lifestyle product something different. With the added benefits of being able to pick and choose the rest of the design. Not to mention the 2 years warranty. Shuttle are shuttles and are out their on their own and this is why we should buy one.

Good review and good comment jake.hand07. I love Shuttles for small office environments. The wiring is well thought out and the design of the drive basket makes it fairly easy to get at the RAM and the various MB connectors. Most importantly they combine stylish looks with a good mid to higher range performance. I like specifying my own components and find tuning each box for its mission. I use them from CAD/CAM stations with high end work station video cards to basic data entry and office program machines. I have built over 50 shuttles and even though they sometimes have some quirks, I have not found a better overall design for my needs. I will offer some clients the ability to get a dell, I just help them configure it. I like dells, they are solid machines with a good on-line site, well organized. I also use dells for servers. However, I love these little Shuttle boxes. I just built 5 of the H55's and think they are one of the best boxes Shuttle has designed. Yes, I think the missing DVI port is a pain in the but. My KVM is DVI and converters didn't work well with some monitors, and marginally with others. So I opted to go with fanless video cards that take two slots. May just be my imagination, but a big part of Win7 for the customer experience is the zippiness of the interface and I think the descrete cards are still the way to go. I have used various size SSD's with them and that's just plain fun.

My concerns with Shuttle boxes over the years have been 1) A bit picky on the memory they will accept, 2) sometimes the BIOS support is sketchy and 3) I wish they had a better web presence - ie very easy to buy add-on boards and options without going to Ebay.

Obviously since I continue to spec and buy them, I still think they are great little boxes. The only issues so far with the H55: Working out bugs with some components when coming out of sleep mode (S3). You must set the video (in the bios) to refresh(?) and am still experimenting with the onboard NIC that has trouble coming out of sleep mode. May have to set to S1 or modify NIC power option settings some more. The onboard video port is attached to the board on a riser that could be a bit more solid. Everything else is very solid and all posted on the first go.

I don't think you can go wrong with this shuttle. I like the fact they put a card reader in the front and the subtle changes to the case add a bit more style - like the lighted logo on/off button. It also seems that the latest boxes have a re-design that makes it easier to install a DVD without worring too much about the eject button posion/style on the DVD. Just use hole set number 3 when installing the DVD.

Hopes this helps if you are considering this Shuttle.