Thoughts
Just perusing the box contents informed us that this XPC had potential in more than one area. We alluded to the fact that it attempts to take the best parts of the current Intel XPC lineup and morph them into a single, super Shuttle small form-factor unit. That appears to be the case. The front is, arguably, the classiest one to grace recent cubes. It also arrives with a pre-installed DVD-ROM drive and a 6-in-1 card reader. Then there's Wireless support, Intel's i865G onboard video (if you can call that a bonus), the ICH5R, and a distinctive look. Fleshing out the rest of the package is the useful carry bag and decent accompanying literature.Does that make it the perfect small form factor system, then ?. It's pretty close, especially with a competitive online price of around £250. The features listed above help it to jump to #1 position in the Intel XPC pecking order and add value to the overall bundle. Other lesser Intel XPCs don't appear to be much cheaper, thus making the RefleXion that much more of an enticing proposition. It's a case where the special edition tag can be justified on a number of grounds.
If we're being picky, and we usually are, the DVD-ROM makes too much noise, there's no room for a second hard drive without removing one of the two pre-installed extras, and inserting cabling can be a frustrating business. That's about the length of our complaints list, because there's a lot of good here. It's fast, stable, feature rich and attractive to look at. Given the quoted price of £250, one then questions the need to look at other models that pass on some of the supplied options here, and that may be Shuttle's greatest problem; how to justify the others that are priced in the same ballpark but don't offer nearly as much.
The defining role of any small form-factor system is to thoroughly question the need for a standard beige box. There's not much it can't do, and it does cause us to ask that very question. It's also fit for a multitude of uses, including file server (Wireless comes in handy here), spare PC, multimedia box extraordinaire, students' PC, office PC. The list goes on and on. This model has made a favourable impression because Shuttle has listened to its customers and created an XPC that was needed. A deluxe model with a standard price tag, if you will.
If you can use all the features that it brings to (or on top of) the table, it's pretty damn hot.
9/10 for its combination of aggressive pricing, useful features, superb overclocking potential and sexy looks.
