I am a huge Shuttle fan and own three of them - two SB81Ps and a new SP35P2.

My SP35P2 is small, but stands up to almost any full-size gaming rig. It has a 2.4GHz Q6600 quad core, 4GB of RAM, an 8800GT, and multiple hard drives...and it hits 12,000 on 3DMark06 at stock clock. This model also supports overclocking and others have blown by 3GHz with no issues with the Q6600 in this case. Yes, they are very capable little boxes. That said, I disagree with them being space savers.

A PC on the floor uses far less of your "usable" space. That space on the floor is otherwise unused...unlike that desk space that your kitchen Shuttle is occupying. They are portable though...and very cool. ;-)

If you really wanted to go small for a system that would be used for web surfing, office productivity, and lower-end gaming, I would have built a Shuttle based on this barebones kit:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856101035

That barebones unit also comes in several lower priced configurations as well...with prices as low as $350. Of course, you would not have been able to recycle most of the components that you put in the Shuttle that you chose...so I can see your motivation.

BTW, wireless options? Call me a geek, but I prefer bridges to adapters. For the same price as an adapter (or just a little more), you can get an AP and convert it to a bridge. the resultant bridge will have two antennas (for simultaneous transmit and receive), lots of power, extra ports, and no need for drivers.

While commercial bridges can be expensive, it is trivial to convert a Linux-based AP into a bridge with third-party firmware. A great combo is the Linksys WRT54GL (where L stands for Linux) and the Tomato open-source firmware.

Router: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833124190 (this Linux-based model is most likely NOT at your local BestBuy)

Tomato:
http://www.polarcloud.com/tomato

Props for the Shuttle mention. :-)

cheers,
Steve

awesome. i especially liked the wife-lingo touch. i think we can all agree that stuff like that is really cute, to a geek. :)

however, now you need to work on installing a cabling hole behind all of that junk. You can even get some nice cable-friendly hole covers to blend in with your countertop.

I bet not having visible cables running across her nice wood cabinetry would make the wife pretty happy. :P

I find this post interesting as I'm kind of in need of a new "internet stick". My current D-Link usb adapter has pathetic signal range and stability, no Linux, Vista or 64-bit drivers and worst of all causes random BSODs or hard locks. There doesn't seem to be a lot of info on which of these devices is best though. I like the idea of a usb wireless adapter but I'm not sure if the implementation always works the best.

That's awesome. I thought the Sempron I put in my HTPC wouldn't be up to the task, but that thing is as snappy as any other processor I have.

If Linux had work as nicely with wireless stuff like windows, I would have opted for an "internet stick", but alas - the Belkin PCI card will have to suffice. At $20, I could live with it.

System looks good Inkling.

How is the battery situation with the wireless keyboard and mouse? Has the daughter/wife ever run out of battery while playing Lego Star Wars?

Be careful now that you like RDP to your own box from the kitchen. Sooner or later all 3 of you will be fighting this thing you personally may want a laptop. :D

Small, efficient little mighty-mice like this make me feel like I missed the boat when I built my dual-core, dual-GPU machine in a server-class case stuffed with Panaflos.