As some of you very well know, Shuttle Computers is most famous for the cute little cube shaped cases that adorn so many desktops. Although cute, Shuttle has tried to show that their PC's were just as capable as everyone elses...just smaller.

Shuttle PC's No Longer Hard to Upgrade

Traditionally, when you bought a Shuttle System, you were pretty much stuck with the board or power supply. Shuttle told us at our meeting that they would be offering different motherboard and power supply options. This change to modular components will allow shuttle to reach the custom PC enthusiast market more easily. One of the things that the Shuttle systems have been criticized for is lack of upgradeability and Shuttle is trying to change that. If you ever wanted to upgrade your system but thought you couldn't , now you can with a motherboard swap which will also offer you all the latest and greatest features.

New Productivity and Security Features

Since Shuttle PC's are easy to steal due to their size, Shuttle has begun implementing Bio-Metric finger print readers into their new series of PRIMA XPC's. This should ease the pain of paranoid IT managers in businesses and corporations. It will also be useful for the home because all you need to do is swipe your finger if you need to enter a password. The PRIMA series will be their new performance computing series and will offer all the latest technologies.

Another new productivity tool is new software that allows Shuttle PC's to connect to other PC's via USB and pretty much use the other PC as an FTP. So if you need to transfer files from a laptop or another computer, just hook the computer up and drag and drop the files you need. This also offers syncronization features and they were even using it with a MacBook in their demo showing off how versatile it it.

Shuttle Goes Bling

This isn't something new. In fact, MSI was one of the first to embed crystals into their notebooks. The other was Paris Hilton when she blingified her Sidekick Phone. Shuttle seems to think this will catch on but I guess we'll have to wait and see. Genuine Swarovksi Crystals will see their way into the bezels of the new Shuttle Glamour Series which will include a G5 and G6 model.

Introducing D'VO - Not The "Whip It" Band...

Shuttles biggest announcement of COMPUTEX 2007 was the new D'VO series of XPC's. The D'VO is Shuttles new re-entry into the Home Theatre PC market. The new D'VO features gold accents and upgraded audio via Dolby® Digital Live! and DTS™ Connect 7.1 channel surround-sound functionality and HD Video Output via an HDMI connection. Shuttle kind of threw us all for a loop when they demo'd it with a a group of tube amps.

As much as I love high end audio, I don't think the general public would put tubes with a PC. The tube amps are going to cost more than the system and they are only offering it with a 2 channel configuration at the moment. People want surround sound and big subwoofers these days. Although I appreciate what Shuttle is trying to do, I'm not sure if this will fly, especially in North America. To their credit, the system was built extremely well and just oozed high quality all the way down to the gold contacts and brushed aluminum remote control.

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