Have Shuttle lost the plot?

BurningHorizons · 26 Jun 2006 at 11:23

A couple of years ago you could buy a beautiful G2 chassis Shuttle for around the £150 price point.
I used to build around 4 per month for friends and family.
For £350-£450 all-in you could build a fantastic, smart, home/office PC.
Now Shuttle price point is anywhere between £250 to £450 just for the unit, which in my opinion puts Shuttle SFF out of the equation for most purposes, unless money isn't a factor.
Today's barebone prices are astronomical - if you think about what you're getting for you money - a case, ITX mobo and a HSF, that's a lot of pennies for not a lot of equipment.
I can't get my head round how they can charge so much. I've also noticed them using cheaper chipsets recently from VIA, SIS and in some respects ATI.
Since SocketA and 478, there hasn't been a single shuttle that's tempted me.
Aesthetically, I also think they've lost the plot. The G5 chassis is nice, but other than that, the rest just don't do it for me.
I've had a look at some of their up and coming models too.
There's the SN27P2 which is AM2 and has a NVIDIA nForce 570 Ultra chipset and looks half-decent. I bet now it's going to cost £400-£500, which puts me off instantly.
The SS31T Skt775 looks good, with its twin 5.25 bays, but they're using a SiS 662 Northbridge and SiS 966L Southbridge. Aimed more at business use, we'll have to wait and see with this one. Let's hope they get the price-point right.
Come on Shuttle, I'm dying for a comparative present day equivalent to the SN45G and the SB61G2 and SN41G2, in terms of price, performance and looks.
Here's hoping, but I can't see it happening.

Does anyone agree, or am I barking up completely the wrong tree?

Tosk · 26 Jun 2006 at 19:05

yes i think there well over priced now days

and they shouldnt be now days as there are a lot more companys doing sff pcs, i think greeds getting the better of them now.

another sony job init

great products but way over priced

-

am looking for a new sff atm got my eys on a custon Silverstone Sugo, or a Shuttle SN21G5, but i think the sugo is for the win atm

as i can upgrade it later on in the future, unlike the Shuttle SN21G5, still unsure which 1 yet

Nixeh · 26 Jun 2006 at 20:00

shuttles prices are ludicrious.

Its one reason i rule out shuttle straight away.

I would prefer a matx system that costs me less and is more powerful, yet still compact compared to a small machine that gets mightily hot and rapes your wallet like no tomorrow.

cokecan · 26 Jun 2006 at 21:43

i know what ya mean, they really are quite over priced now. for my next upgrade im also lookin at silverstones and matx boards.

one thing that would make me think about shuttles again is their cooling solution, IMO it is ingenoius and by far better than any other SFF cpu cooler that i know of. when i see people crammin zalmans etc into SFF's like the sugo i always think, well wheres all that hot air goinna be blowing the hot air straight up, or its goin directly into the psu and thats blowin the air out. to me that just seems a bit precarious at the best of times, hence why i like the ICE on shuttles as it blows the hot air strightout the back with no messing

besides the cooling, its not like theres anythin new and revolutionary in them?? what, NF4? thats been out for quite some time now and im startin to see it as old tech...

the only shuttle thats at a reasonable price is the SN21G5 but after readin up on it and a few reviews, is quite appauling as they seem to have gone for the cheapest option with everything (the integrated graphics chip especially as it doesnt even support DVI!)

this would be a great time for IDEQ and their biostars to make an appearance again, if they could provide a SFF that had pretty much the same spec as most of shuttles but at a cheaper price (like the old NF2 SFF's) i think they'd be snatched up straight away

Steeps · 26 Jun 2006 at 22:31

i've built systems using G, G2 and G5 chassis and they've all been great and cost this end of £200 for a TOP SPEC motherboard, the cooling, the potential, its all really good but now with these P series they don't have the same attraction, they're bigger and twice the price. the last 2 systems i've built have been mini towers just because of the price, although i'm yet to find "that perfect case" which i saw in the sb75g2 system and love. when i get some funds i'll have to build my own case again

WJA96 · 27 Jun 2006 at 07:27

They've slowly slipping into silly money territory now for the last 2 years. It was, as the OP said, perfectly feasibile to build a cheap SFF on these platforms, but the current ones are not that good and horribly expensive.

Cue · 27 Jun 2006 at 07:55

Its true...I bought a SB61G2 over 2 1/2 yrs ago and so far I've been very pleased with it.

However, looking ahead on what my next "PC" would be, I'm more tempted towards a "Mac mini" really.

Seeing as Shuttle, like you say, are starting to lose their touch it does look a better deal for me overall to get the mini. What do you think?

GuruJockStrap · 27 Jun 2006 at 10:03

I'd agree.

I picked up a Shuttle SB65G2 for £90 a while back to transfer my main rig into to save space. Looks and performs brilliantly.

Tempted to upgrade my system later on in the year to a Conroe based one and would love another Shuttle rig but looking at the current Intel Shuttle's it'll be expensive.

Chewy · 27 Jun 2006 at 10:08

matt100 · 27 Jun 2006 at 12:17

For the prdent buyer they can still be great value, I picked up a 2 month old sn25p for £180 and its an awesome pc.

Agree the new prices are daft though, the sb61g2v4 I had ages ago was awesome and I thought it was pricey at £200 new!

BurningHorizons · 27 Jun 2006 at 12:21

Looks like you all share the same opinion. Shuttle take notice!

Chewy - Nice, but at £850+ you might as well buy a lappy.

I like the spec.ed. SB83G2B Skt775 which they're about to release.
No info on pricing at the moment though. Hopefully it'll be on the right side of £200.
http://global.shuttle.com/Product/Barebone/SB83G2B-webpage.htm

The Silverstone Sugo is the only way to go at the moment IMHO.
Good looking, although bigger than a Shuttle, and you can almost infinatley choose what you put inside. Nice price too. Anyone know if it takes a standard ATX PSU?

paul@ · 27 Jun 2006 at 12:54

I think shuttle is quite good value for the money especially for the amount of things you get inside.

cokecan · 27 Jun 2006 at 13:57

but you dont really get anything extra compared to any mATX and full size ATX comp??? and they also seem to be packaged with all the same stuff we used to get with the more value for money shuttles like the G/G2-type chassis etc

ok a PSU with some random dimensions shuttle dreamed up one night just cos it fit in the chassis that should power anythin you can throw at it and that you can't really upgrade unless shuttle release a newer one with the same dimensions.

or the ICE cooling?? (though heatpipe cooling is becomming standard practice now as there are quite a lot of heatpipe coolers around)

aside from them everythin else it just standard. what ever chipset on the mobo with all the same features as everythin else. aluminium chassis and case that again are pretty common nowdays

they not good value for money at all imo, well not now anyway. they used to be

squiffy · 28 Jun 2006 at 10:50

BurningHorizons said:
The Silverstone Sugo is the only way to go at the moment IMHO.
Good looking, although bigger than a Shuttle, and you can almost infinatley choose what you put inside. Nice price too. Anyone know if it takes a standard ATX PSU?

Yup standard ATX PSU size, just make sure total depth of PSU + optical drive isn't too deep (I wouldn't get a modular PSU for the PSU, unless the connectors are out of the way of the optical drive, probably means the other drive bay is unusable with another optical drive (unlikely want two though)