Shuttle is known for squeezing PCs of all flavours into discreet, compact boxes. So it's refreshing to see the company branching out with a very different system: a lightweight all-in-one that's designed to be admired.

Design
Outwardly, the X50 is strikingly similar to the Asus Eee Top ET1602. From the front it's identically laid out, with a speaker bar set below a widescreen touch-sensitive display. There's no keyboard or mouse, though - it appears Shuttle sees the X50 as primarily a browsing device.

The insides are similar to that of the Eee Top as well. Both systems are built around an Intel Atom processor, although Shuttle splashes out on a dual-core Atom 330. Both ship with 1GB of DDR2 RAM and a 160GB hard disk, and both sport a 1.3-megapixel webcam and mic set in the top of the screen.

Outside of this basic specification, the Shuttle distinguishes itself over the Asus on several counts. The one you'll notice first is build quality. Where the Eee Top has a cheap and cheerful plasticky feel, the X50 is a far more solid proposition. With its tasteful white (or black) bezel and metallic trim, it looks and feels like a quality appliance.

Several design features reinforce the effect: we like the status and activity LEDs that shine through the speaker grille, and the physical rocker that controls volume, brightness and contrast. When in use, a blue light shines down onto your desk, calling to mind the HP TouchSmart series. And there's a stylus holder neatly tucked into the top of the casing.

The Shuttle X50: Where the Eee Top has a cheap and cheerful plasticky feel, the X50 is a far more solid proposition, with its tasteful white (or black) bezel and metallic trim.

The X50 is also designed for flexible positioning. The stand turns into a handle, should you wish to lug its slim 3.6kg frame about, and there's a VESA standard mounting to set the unit on a wall or bracket. Maybe few of us need these features, but you can't cavil at having the option.

Specs
Connectivity isn't bad, either. You get five USB ports, full-fat Gigabit Ethernet and draft-n wireless networking, a 4-in-1 card reader and a VGA connector for hooking up a second monitor.

Last, the X50 is gratifyingly upgradeable: a spare SODIMM slot lets you up the RAM to 2GB, and the hard disk can be replaced with a standard 2.5in SATA unit of up to 600GB. It isn't exactly an easy-access upgrade, mind. You'll have to undo 15 screws to get at the RAM slot, and a further four to swap out the hard disk.

While the X50 ticks a lot of boxes, it has shortcomings too, including the lack of an optical drive. Without one, the X50's media capabilities are limited, and you may have to resort to roundabout methods to install applications and drivers - especially if you opt to save money and buy the unit without a preinstalled OS.

The stand turns into a handle, should you wish to lug its slim 3.6kg frame about

Screen
Its 1366 x 768 display is also disappointing. White areas are grainy, while colours are washed out. It's usable, but in such a well-built package it's a weak link. The speakers are weedy too.

Performance
With its Atom processor, the X50's performance is decidedly modest. In our benchmarks it scored 0.37 overall - fine for web browsing and office apps, but offering little headroom beyond that.

The situation is exacerbated by the provision of Vista Home Basic. Vista can feel decidedly sluggish on a system with less than 2GB of RAM and a slow processor, and we were irritated by juddery window movements and unhurried menus.

Of course, Vista won't be your only choice for long. Windows 7 is designed to be more responsive on lightweight hardware, and when we tried the Release Candidate on the X50 our gripes evaporated. Aero transparency worked too, even with the Atom's weedy Intel GMA 950 integrated graphics.

But there was one further disappointment: the display isn't recognised by Windows 7 as a touch device. We were able to prod the screen to simulate mouse clicks, but advanced OS features such as gestures and flicks weren't available. We hope that will be fixed, but the panel is
single-touch only, and will never support all of 7's multitouch capabilities.

Conclusion
All told, the X50 clearly isn't a slam dunk. Coming out of the box with no optical drive, no keyboard, no mouse, a mediocre screen and - for now - an inappropriate OS, it's hard to recommend as a general-purpose PC.

But that clearly isn't what the X50 is for. And if you're looking for a simple web-browsing appliance with little need for versatility, there's a lot to like about the way the X50 marries the Eee Top's all-in-one simplicity with a front-room-friendly chic. It's more expensive than its rivals, but with its technical and ergonomic advantages it adds up to a likeable package.