Shuttle has shied away from any next-generation optical disc formats, so there's no sign of any Blu-ray or HD DVD drive in the mini X 200. Instead you get a good old-fashioned Matshita UJ-845S slot-loading DVD rewriter. It's fairly slow, maxing out at 8x for DVD ROM reading or 2.4x for dual-layer (8.5GB) DVD+R writing, but it's fine for creating backups as long as you have patience.
One of our gripes with the mini X 100 was its 200GB hard drive -- which wasn't large enough for our liking. The mini X 200 comes with a more capacious 320GB drive, which should please anyone with an extensive digital file collection. The PC ships with a hybrid digital/analogue TV tuner, but this won't let you simultaneously record one channel while you watch another.
The mini X 200 has a gigabit Ethernet controller, so it can transfer data to compatible NAS devices at up to 1,000Mbps, and the unit has optional Wi-Fi so you can connect it to your home network and share an Internet connection without using cables.
There's not a great deal of software included in the package. You get a demo of Nero 6, NeroVision Express 3 and PowerDVD for movie playback, but that's about it. Our review sample used Windows XP Media Center Edition, but future versions will use Windows Vista Home Premium Edition.
Performance
The mini X 200 is a solid machine for everyday use, but it's slower than the mini X 100. It scored 2,538 in PCMark 2005, whereas the Mini X 100 scored 3,336. This we attribute to the T2050 CPU having a slower FSB than the T2300 in the mini X 100. Gaming performance is also worse than the mini X 100. It scored 298 in 3DMark 2006, which again is lower than the mini X 100's effort of 798.
Arguably the best aspect of the mini X 200's performance is its quiet operation. It's barely audible when idling and doesn't get much louder when running demanding applications.
Conclusion
This is one of the better Media Center PCs -- it's small enough to fit under your TV and has most of the features you'll need. Providing you're not looking for a gaming machine and aren't fussed by its limited upgradeability, it's a solid choice.
Edited by Jason Jenkins
Additional editing by Nick Hide
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