THX certified Altec Lansinc MX5021

For those who are on a tight budget I would like to recommend this excellent alternative to a high-end home audio system, i.e. Altec Lansinc MX5021. This may be the only THX certified 2.1 speakers in its price range.

March of Mice

I still remember my first wireless mouse was a infrared track-ball mouse, it was almost 10 years something ago. However, after that mouse died, I moved back to the conventional ones. Along the time optical mice come and replace the track-ball ones...and today, finally, wireless mice which really practically work have come: 2.4Ghz wireless laser mouse! This kind of mouse is relatively cheaper, with longer battery life (easily last 2 to 3 months), and with wider working range (10m). On another hand, you can also get a Bluetooth mouse with a similar spec but at a price about 2 times of a 2.4Ghz, it's up to you. Laser is good if compared to Optical, it works on all type of surface, including glass. I have four 2.4Ghz wireless mice so far, 3 of them are laser and 1 is optical. I also have 2 infrared optical mice which I already put in my garage.

2.4Ghz wireless laser mouse is the answer to your HTPC system!

Shuttle with Samsung LCD

This is the complete setup with a Samsung 2233SW, a wired 'Genius' USB keyboard, a 2.4GHZ laser mouse and a 2.1 Logitech speakers, of course, the main focus point is still the Shuttle.

I took the pics with my cellphone and then bluetoothed them to the Shuttle, this is what technology is all about!

The speakers are a bit weak in this setup, but it should be ok in a small room, I hope.

SFF: 'Silversttone Sugo SG01-F' vs 'Shuttle XPC SG31G2

I bought a Silverstone sugo SG01-F and a Shuttle SG31G2. There are some similarities in the Spec and form factor. I did some comparisons and they are as follows:-

1. The price of the Sugo with a 780G motherboard & a decent PS is about the same as the Shuttle which comes with a motherboard and PS.

2. Sugo is bigger and more flexible and it offers plenty of space for your stuff, but you can also fit in two hard disks & a PCI-E card in the Shuttle!

3. Sugo is solid and heavy and with thicker steel materials, but its dimensions lack of accuracy - the case is with a noticeable gap when you close it. Shuttle is light and easy to handle and it's so neat when you close the case.

4. Sugo's front panel is made of solid aluminum, while the full exterior enclosure of Shuttle is of aluminum. The interiors of both are built with steel plates.

5. Sugo can take any typical MATX board you throw in and it would outperform a typical Shuttle's.

6. Shuttle is an absolute silent system if compared with Sugo which has 4 fans inside (including the one for the processor)

silverstone sugo SG01-F

I have got my HTPC replaced recently, it's a silverstone sugo SG01-F with a Gigabyte 780GM-S2H board and a AMD5600+ processor. No complaint so far, perfectly output to my SONY (1366 x 768 resolution) including direct sound via HDMI. (the old 690G has problem with sound via HDMI, even Gigabyte support team could not figure it out and fit it)

The old 690G is also with a new suit now, I changed the case.