G versus G2 illustrated
Let it never be said that Shuttle is afraid of competing with itself. The company has defined the mini-PC segment and owned it. Now, the great Taiwanese Xerox machine has just finished warming up, and is ready to copy the XPC formula. Marketing directors across the island nation have sweaty fingers perched expectantly on the green go-button. Already, slick-looking boxes like MSI's MEGA PC are hitting the streets, and Shuttle will have to fight hard to retain its market share. I won't handicap its prospects, but Shuttle is making the right move by offering variety within its own product line. The SN45G carries the "G" front face that originally debuted with the SS40G rather than the "G2" look of the SN41G2. The pictures below illustrate the difference between the two front faces nicely.

The SN45G (left) and its cousin, the SN41G2 (right)

The SN45G has a transparent plastic face

The SN41G2 has works the brushed metal look

I suppose choosing between the "G" and "G2" looks is a matter of personal preference, but I easily prefer the G2 look myself. The catch, however, is that the G-style front ends are especially versatile. Shuttle sells all manner of colored, transparent face plates for G-class XPCs, as well as colored backlights, paper inserts, and insert design software. If you want to have a backlit picture of your puppy, your car, or your favorite team's logo adorning the face of your XPC, you can have it. But only with the G-series front face, not the G2.

Note, also, that the SN45G has a different port configuration up front than the SN41G2. Several readers noted after our review of the SN41G2 that the placement of an SPDIF output up front was an odd choice; an input would make more sense. Now, Shuttle's shuffled around the ports, so the SPDIF input port is around back next to the SPDIF output port, as you can see in the photo below. Now the leftmost port up front is a line input, which is a more sensible choice for a front-mounted port.

The SN45G has lots of ports in back, but the VGA and video ports are missing