[TAG] Shuttle-SD39P2: Should I buy one?

[Thomas Adam]

Hey all,

As I am sure many of you know, I don't get on with hardware.  :)
Thanks to Ben's suggestion I now have a USB Sun keyboard though, and
despite people's horrific claims, *I* at least like it.  So thanks,
Ben.  :)

My next question concerns a possibe replacement for my workstation.
I've had my current PC for about three years now, kindly donated by a
friend of mine.  It's a nice system, but it needs replacing.  I've had
enough of the CPU being at 70C plus, despite cooling attempts.

So I was looking at buying a Shuttle PC.  Specifically the SD39P2
which would be a bare-bones system [1].  What I'm curious to know is
whether any of you have used one, and how they stack up against a
regular PC?  My reading suggests they can act as a pretty good desktop
replacements.  Whilst the model I'm looking at only has two PCI slots,
I only really need to add a wireless PCI card and an NVidia graphics
card, so that's perfect.

Does the model I'm listing [1] suggest any problems with running Linux
on it?  I can't see how it would at a cursive glance of what's
available.  My only real reservation is what would be the driving
force of me buying this model when I could go to Dell and spend an
equivalent amount of money and get a whole lot more.  :)

Kindly,

Thomas Adam

[1]  http://www.trustedreviews.com/pcs/review/2007/05/30/Shuttle-SD39P2-Barebone/p1