We only reviewed a new Shuttle mini PC in the last issue but the Taiwanese marvel has already released another one. The ST62K Zen, however, is rather different.

Shuttle's 'barebones' mini PCs consist of just a case, a motherboard and a power supply - it's up to you to find and fit everything else. Of course 'just' doesn't really tell the whole story - Shuttle PCs have pretty much every feature you'll ever need built into the motherboard and they come in a case the size of a shoebox. Thanks to some clever cooling techniques, they're quiet too, making them desktop computers that you'd actually want on your desk rather than under it.

The Zen, however, takes things to the next level. It's smaller than Shuttle's other models by some margin and at just 30 x 20 x 19cm, takes up less desk space than a computer keyboard. The all-aluminium case has a stylish brushed aluminium cover and the pearlescent white front panel gives it a very classy look indeed.

You might expect a PC of this size to be cramped inside but the Zen is surprisingly roomy. This is partly due to most of the cables being neatly routed around the edges of the case but mostly because there's no bulky internal power supply. Instead, Shuttle supplies a bulky external one and this large black brick plugs into a socket at the back of the case.

Apart from freeing up valuable space inside, this also removes a significant source of heat and noise, and as a result, the Zen is cooler and quieter than almost any other PC we've seen, mini or otherwise.

The Zen has room for one 5.25in and two 3.5in disk drives but if you fit anything other than a hard disk, you'll need to remove the white drive bay covers on the front panel and have beige drive fascias sitting in their place. Other manufacturers fit hinged covers to the drive bays on their mini PCs so that ugly disk drives can be hidden from view and it's a pity Shuttle didn't do this with the Zen. Since the floppy drive is becoming increasingly anachronistic, it's also a pity that Shuttle didn't fit a memory card reader in one of the 3.5in bays, as it did with the ST61G4 we reviewed last issue.

The Zen can use any relatively recent Pentium 4 or Celeron processor (all Socket 478 models, if you're technically-minded) and it uses the same innovative (and quiet) 'heat pipe' processor cooler as other Shuttle models. There are two memory slots but while there is one PCI slot for expansion, the AGP graphics card slot found in other Shuttle systems is absent. The onboard ATi 9100 graphics chip is an excellent mid-range performer but while it can handle most tasks, it will stumble with the more graphically demanding 3D games.

The Zen won't be for everyone, since its limited expansion potential means that more demanding users will soon outgrow it. Unless you're obsessed with always having the latest, fastest hardware, though, it'll meet the needs of most home PC users and besides, it's worth making a couple of sacrifices to have a computer that looks so stylish.

Contact: Gemma 020 8961 7008
www.gemma.co.uk

Price details:
TBC