I've owned this model for ~two years. It spent over a year on my desk before I flush surface mounted it to the underside of a shelf. The fans is super quiet, I've never been able to actually hear the cooling fan. My desktop computer and laptop both are louder than it. The GigE support has been able to handle everything I've been able to throw at it. For home use, it is an extremely capable switch. I have a total of 3 different switches (2 GigE, 1, FastE) and 1 FastE hub in my network. This is the core and provides the lowest latency out of all my hardware. For a home or small business, this is an excellent choice. My network size: 15-20 wired devices.
As far as mounting goes, the rack-mount brackets are detachable for desktop use and can also be rotated 90 degrees to mount under a desk or shelf.
Pros:home networking, thin client computing, video streaming, web-serving, ftp serving, syncronized folders, website development