Shuttle’s SN41G2 & SK41G: Two Athlon Small Form Factor PCs

Final Words

Shuttle has indeed come a long way with their XPC line, the SK41G and SN41G2 being well made extensions of their already very successful product list.

Now that stability and usability concerns have been addressed with these latest, most mature XPCs we can finally bring ourselves to recommend them as more than just a neat product to look at.

While most power users won’t find the SK41G too attractive, the SN41G2 can very capably replace a desktop nForce2 system and hold its own with ease. Although the FN41 is clearly the slowest nForce2 motherboard we’ve ever tested, the SN41G2 is still quite competitive with just about any Athlon XP system you could build yourself.

The benefit of the SN41G2 is that you get everything you could possibly want in a desktop but in a package that’s probably not even 25% the size of what you’re used to having underneath your desk. The system is also relatively quiet; much quieter than most desktops, although not nearly as silent as we’d like it to be. Pair it up with a Radeon 9700 Pro and you’ve got just as fast of a gaming machine as you can build with an Athlon XP processor. Be warned through, you won’t be able to upgrade to the fastest GeForce FX unless one of NVIDIA’s partners finds away around the extreme cooling requirements.

Even if you’re not going to use these machines for heavy gaming platforms, they are just as flexible as any desktop you could put together – just smaller, lighter and quieter. Their excellent design is also quite attractive, definitely more so than many of today’s desktop cases.

Shuttle’s bread and butter has shifted from motherboards to building these XPC systems, and with this latest series of Athlon XPCs it’s clear that Shuttle’s bet has paid off. The hard work and extensive focus on design can be seen in how polished the SN41G2 comes across. This year Shuttle is planning on introducing even more XPCs and with new CPUs due out from both AMD and Intel, you had better believe that there will be some interesting designs in the pipeline…