Read the System Shootout FAQ before proceeding!All images and logos are copyright (c) 2008 the respective companies.

DATE CONFIGURED: 1/11/05
(displays not included)
Best of Field
(in my opinion)
Apple Mac mini (no display)
Shuttle XPC G4300h (no display)
Design/Styling:
Silver-White "Lunchbox"
Silver Cube
Mobility:
3 lbs.
6.3 lbs.
Component Access?
Difficult to access
Easy to access
Cords/Cables:
n/a
n/a
Desk Space Used:
42 sq. inches (6.5" x 6.5")
93 sq. inches (11.8" x 7.9")
Noise Volume:
Nearly silent
Nearly silent
Max. Energy Use:
85 Watts; appx. $14 / year
200 Watts; appx. $30 / year
Processor:
Notes
1.25 GHz G4 1.6 GHz Pentium 4
AMD Athlon XP 2400+ 2.6 GHz Pentium 4
L2 Cache:
512K
512K
RAM Type:
333 MHz DDR-SDRAM (PC2700)
400 MHz DDR-SDRAM (PC3200)
Front Side Bus:
167 MHz bus
266 MHz bus
RAM Amount:
256 MB (1 DIMM)
256 MB (1 DIMM)
Max. RAM:
1.0 GB (1 slot)
2.0 GB (2 slots)
Hard Drive Capacity:
40 GB
80 GB
Hard Drive Type:
Ultra ATA 100
Ultra ATA 100
Hard Drive Speed:
either 4200 or 5400 RPM...unknown at this time
7200 RPM
CD-ROM:
24x CD-ROM
52x CD-ROM
CD-RW:
24x16x CD-RW
--
DVD-ROM:
8x DVD-ROM
--
DVD-/+RW:
--
--
Floppy/Other Drive:
--
--
PCI/AGP Slots:
0 available / 1 total
1 available / 2 total
Internal Bays:
0 available / 1 total
1 available / 2 total
External Bays:
0 available / 1 total
1 available / 2 total
Mouse:
Kensington PilotMouse***
2-button scrollwheel optical mouse
Logitech 2-button scrollwheel optical mouse
Keyboard:
Apple Keyboard***
(w/volume buttons, eject button & 2 USB ports)
Logitech UltraX PS/2 keyboard
USB Ports:
2 on CPU back + 2 on keyboard
+ 4 via Belkin 4-port USB 2.0 hub*** = 8 total
5 available (4 USB 2.0; 1 USB 1.1)
2 on back + 2 on front= 4 USB 2.0 total
4 USB 2.0 available
FireWire Ports:
1 @ 400 Mbps
3 @ 400 Mbps (1 on front)
Legacy Ports:
Legacy-free
2 serial ports available (2 PS/2 ports used)
***(Note: Keyboard, Mouse & USB Hub added on for this configuration)
Video Card:
ATI Radeon 9200
S3 Unichrome
Video RAM:
32 MB DDR dedicated
"up to" 64 MB (shared)
VGA Out:
Yes
Yes
DVI Out:
Yes
Yes (?)
RCA-Out:
Yes (video adapter included in total price)
optional PCI card
S-Video Out:
Yes (video adapter included in total price)
optional PCI card
Dual Display Support?
--
--
Display:
n/a
n/a
Max. Resolution:
1920x1200
1280x1024
Audio In:
digital-audio only
Onboard 5.1 Sound w/SPDIF In/Out
Audio Out:
Headphone jack, Line-out jack; digital-audio ready
Onboard 5.1 Sound w/SPDIF In/Out
Stereo Speakers:
Internal mono speaker
--
Ethernet:
10/100
10/100
56k Modem:
Yes
--
.Wi-Fi Card:
optional 802.11g/b (54 Mbps)
optional 802.11g/b (54 Mbps)
Bluetooth Card:
optional
optional
Hardware Extras:
Epson Stylus C86 Ink Jet Printer (free after rebate)
--
Included OS:
Mac OS X 10.3 Panther; Mac OS 9.2 Classic;
BSD Unix; X11 Window System
Windows XP Home Edition
Windows Support:
DOS/95/98/ME/2000/XP (via Virtual PC)
DOS/95/98/ME/2000/NT/XP (Native)
Mac Support:
Mac OS 8 apps/OS 9 (via Classic); OS X (Native)
Mac OS 8 (via Basilisk); Mac OS X (via PearPC)
Linux Support:
Various flavors (Native)
Various flavors (Native)
Unix Support:
Various flavors (Native)
Various flavors (Native)
Save-as PDF:
Native (any file)
--
Zero-Config Networking:
Rendezvous (system-wide)
--
Handwriting Recognition:
Inkwell (system-wide)
--
Voice/Speech Recog.:
Built-in (system-wide); Speakable Items, etc.
(limited to certain non-core apps)
Web Serving:
Apache w/Perl, Python & PHP included
--
Data Backup Utility:
(iBackup, PsyncX, etc. available as free download)
Included
Developer Tools:
Xcode, Script Editor, etc.
(free download of compiler/linker/diff tools)
File Compression:
System-wide Zip compression
System-wide Zip compression
File Encryption:
FileVault encrypt.
--
Word Processor:
AppleWorks 6.2 (Word compat6ible)
or OpenOffice (free download; Word comp.)
MSFT Word
or OpenOffice (free download; Word comp.)
Spreadsheet:
AppleWorks 6.2 (Excel compatible)
or OpenOffice (free download; Excel comp.)
OpenOffice (free download; Excel comp.)
Presentation:
AppleWorks 6.2
or OpenOffice (free download; PwrPt. comp.)
OpenOffice (free download; PwrPt. comp.)
Database:
AppleWorks 6.2
--
Drawing/Painting:
AppleWorks 6.2
--
Projects/Planning:
--
--
Web Browser
Safari 1.2; Internet Explorer 5.2
(FireFox, Mozilla, etc. avail. as free download)
Internet Explorer 6
(FireFox, Mozilla, etc. avail. as free download)
E-Mail/Address Book:
OS X Mail/Address Book
Outlook Express
Calendar Program:
iCal 1.5
--
Data Synchronization:
iSync 1.4
--
System Data Transfer:
System Migration Tool
Settings Transfer Wizard
Chat/AV Conferencing:
iChat AV 2.1
(others avail. as free downloads: ICQ, AOL IM, etc..)
Windows Messenger
(others avail. as free downloads: ICQ, AOL IM, etc..)
Media Players:
Quicktime 6.5; DVD Player
(WMP 9 & RealOne Player 9 avail as free downloads)
WMP 10; RealOne Player 9; DVD Player
(QuickTime 6.5 avail. as free download)
Financial:
Quicken 2005
MSFT Money Standard
Reference:
Sherlock 3.0
Encarta Standard, Streets & Trips
Digital Photography:
iPhoto 5.0
Image Acquisition; Picture It! Photo Premium
Digital Video Editing:
iMovie HD
MovieMaker 2
CD Burning/Music:
iTunes 4.7; Disk Burner
Sonic RecordNow!; MusicMatch 7.0
(iTunes 4.7 avail. as free download)
Audio Engineering:
GarageBand 2.0
--
DVD Burning/Authoring:
iDVD 5.0; Disk Burner
XP Disk Burning
Games Included:
Chess; Nanosaur 2; Marble Blast Gold
Mine Sweeper, Asstd. classic games
Total Total Software Titles Available:
Fewer available (actual numbers unknown)
More available (actual numbers unknown)
Additional Software:
Asstd. system software
Free Services:
1 month Earthlink; 2 month .Mac trial
Viruses/Trojans/Worms:
None known which affect Mac OS X.
Firewall:
Built-in, configurable
Built-in, configurable
Warranty:
1 yr. ltd./mail-in; 90 days phone
"Shuttle Standard Limited One Year Warranty"
Customer Service:
(Unknown)
Subtotal:
Basic System: $499
+ Apple Keyboard: $29
+ Kensington PilotMouse Optical: $20
+ DVI to Video adapter: $19
+ Beklin 4-port USB 2.0 hub: $30
+ Printer: $99
Basic System: $570
- Rebates if any:
- $99 printer rebate
--
+ Ground Shipping:
n/c
$40
Total Price as configured:
(tax not included)
$597
$610
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