Shuttle was instrumental in bringing about truly small computers long before Apple launched the Mac Mini. The XPC G5 8300M comes with Windows Media Center 2005 in a discreet computer package suited to sitting next to the television.

Inside the diminutive case is an Intel Pentium 4 processor running at 3GHz, supported by 512Mb of memory. This produced excellent performance in our tests.

The Radeon X300SE graphics card is a little pedestrian but is still capable of playing modern 3D games, albeit with the high detail settings switched off. The graphics card fits into a PCI-Express slot, so you can upgrade to a faster model if your gaming needs a boost.

The 200Gb hard disk sounds big but is below average for a Media Center PC. There's plenty of room to record TV shows, but software applications and other memory-hungry media files such as digital music will eat up space very quickly. What's more, there's no room for adding a second hard disk, so upgrading will either mean a larger replacement or an external hard disk.

The front of the PC has a display showing the time or information from Media Center. There is also a recordable DVD drive that writes to both plus (+) and minus (-) formats and a collection of ports and sockets to support six memory cards, USB 2 and FireWire devices.

On the back are the rest of the connections. The 5.1 audio sockets are all the same colour which could be confusing when attaching speakers but the audio software does tell you what each socket does. Dial-up internet users should note that there is no modem fitted, nor is there any space inside for one. Supplied software includes Ahead Nero 6 and CyberLink PowerDVD 5.

For the same price you can pick up a non-Media Center PC with better hardware and a monitor, mouse and keyboard. However, if you're looking for a compact, quiet Windows Media Center PC, the XPC is a good choice.

Contact:
Gemma 0870 027 3888
www.gemma.co.uk

Also consider:
Alienware Bot