Building Your Home Theater Around the PC

Biostar IDeQ 200T Small Form Factor PC

Shuttle XPC SB61G2 Small Form Factor PC

Shuttle, a pioneer on the small form factor PC market, offers a wide range of products to suit all needs and also all budgets. For our purposes, we chose the SB61G2 model, which is not new on the market but does have an excellent quality/price ratio and is designed for Intel Pentium 4/Celeron (socket 478) processors. In terms of finish and esthetics, Shuttle has made enormous progress compared to the first small form factor PCs. Plastic has now been replaced by brushed aluminum. Connectivity is complete, with two USB 2.0 ports, a Firewire port and the usual headphone and microphone inputs on the front panel. At the rear are four more USB 2.0 ports, a Firewire port and the analog and digital (optical) audio outputs. Installing the components inside the case is fairly easy, despite the cable bundle that passes above the motherboard. Price : about $250