My sleek and shiny Small Form Factor Shuttle PC is now a stainless steel doorstop. If you’re thinking of buying anything with the Shuttle brand name on it, take my advice: don’t do it. The company has the worst support I’ve ever experienced. Read the full details over at ZDNet.
… Dave Beuvais adds his Shuttle story.
Ed Bott (@ wordpress.com) 
Yeah, I have a shuttle I made a media center out of, it’s “ok” but has really crappy cooling system that has constant heat problems. On top of that the power supply is louder and delivers only a little juice. Noisy little box and very VERY picky of of what video cards will work in it, which is simple sinful.
Since Shuttle boxes became common I have had a few friends who like to build their own systems and who have quite a bit of experience doing so, as well as having me to fall-back on if something doesn’t work, build systems around various models of shuttle cases. All but two cases were taken back for a refund within weeks of being built, mainly due to cooling problems with various components refusing to work properly because of the heat or the fans mentioned by Dave Beuvais giving problems. Of the only two that weren’t taken back, one was built with the minimum CPU spec for the included board and only using the on-board graphics as it was only wanted for general PC use with limited space for locating it and the other one was modified considerably by the user to allow better cooling. Though that one now sounds even more like a jet fighter on reheat taking off if he is doing anything other than just a bit of browsing or WP. In fact, don’t even bother trying to talk in the same room if he is doing some video rendering or playing a game. The shuttles were a nice idea and are fine if you just want a general purpose small form factor PC due to space limitations or similar but I have found them next to useless for any repeated heavy duty lifting role.
I have several Shuttle custom computers for over a year now and had only one problem, which was partly my fault. One computer over heated do to poor circulation , but once I gave it breathing room; this computer has not had any more problems. I run high RAM programs like video editing, aftereffects, etc. on them all the time. I they all run very quite , tower computer is loud ..not my shuttles. Also I travel with these computers across the US through out the year on airlines ( you know how baggage handlers are) and had not a problem with the computers.
We bought 100+ of these for deployment in a restaurant chain. Twelve months into the contract these units were failing in droves. For what it’s worth, they were running in pretty harsh environments but when it came time to purchase a new batch of computers we went with HP. They are running much better that the Shuttles.
That’s why you build your own from their barebones kits. I’ve had 2 shuttles in the past with no problems. My second shuttle, an SN85G4v2, got in the FutureMark hall of fame for 3DMark03 back in 2004… although it was heavily modified.
I have a shuttle PC, I have had it for about 2 years now, Just recently it has started over heating and turning off. This sucks! I am trying to look all over the internet to find better fans that will fit, and/or alternatives to stoping this problem. If I could start over I would not have gotten one, I could have got a Dell that would have been half the price and probably wouldn’t over heat the same way. Also mine is so loud! I have to turn it off if I want to sleep in the next room.
i have to agree with the other comments i’ve read here. my shuttle now sounds like a jet taking off. it has always had a cooling problem, and i’ve had to replace the hard drive many times because of this. these machines are a POS and i’d get a mac-mini and install bootcamp/winxp on it before i’d buy another shuttle.
I agree as well. I have a shuttle and the only way I can run the thing (without it shutting off) is without the cover on it. The heat buildup when the cover is on the PC is significant. Very disappointing.
Wow is all I can say. I have had a shuttle for about 3 years and have had no problems with it at all. I then bought another and custom-boxed it for my Landrover which also performed flawlessly in spite for 9 months rough treatment in Africa, including in the Sahara (see my website). I was introduced to the brand by a friend who uses them commercially. I don’t dispute the you guys have had problems, but I would say that if you just need an average PC, rather buy a shuttle than another average branded PC. Possibly, if you’re going to push it with all sorts of power-hungry editing or gaming then go for something else.