Externals I
Shuttle have had enough time to hone presentation and appearance down to an art form by now. The specifications page revealed some rather strange characteristics about this newest AMD-based Shuttle. There's no on-board video and consequently there's no provision for any form of video-out. Let's explore a little more.
The box is pleasantly illustrated. One little, banal point here. Yours truly would not be looking at another man if a tasty lassie was casting her gaze in my direction. You may just be able to make out that this SN45G features the new nForce2 Ultra 400 200FSB-compliant chipset.
The back of the box highlights its virtues in graphic fashion. We're talking about an eclectic mix of features from FireWire to S/PDIF-In and Out.
We saw the revised Shuttle fascia with the SN41G2 nForce2 and SB61G2 Springdale Shuttles. Their aluminium fronts and quality buttons put them firmly in the realms of cuteness. Therefore we're a little disappointed to see Shuttle revert back to the plastic fascias of old. This Shuttle appears to be a purely performance-oriented machine from the outset. It seems that little attention is paid to aesthetics. Shuttle appear to maintain that users prefer this look. We're not totally convinced yet.
A close-up of the front port connections reveals the standard line-in, a microphone and a headphones socket. Shuttle do away with the usual S/PDIF interface here. 2 USB2.0 ports and a 4-pin (passive) FireWire port complete the connections here. This arrangement is identical to the SB61G2's, save for the cheaper-looking front fascia.
