Tranquil PC T2.e/MCE2005 Specification
Before we delve into the looks, integration and operation details, lets see what the T2.e/MCE2005 uses for its hardware base.| Tranquil PC T2.e/MCE2005 | |
| CPU Support | VIA C3 1.2GHz |
| Northbridge | VIA CLE266 |
| Memory Support | 1 slots, DDR333, 1GB max, single-channel |
| AGP | None |
| PEG16X | None |
| Southbridge | VIA VT8235 |
| Audio | VIA VT1616 CODEC from VT8235 feed, 6-channel |
| Audio Connectivity | 6 port backplane speaker, coax digita output |
| PCI | 1 x 32-bit 33MHz PCI 2.1 slot |
| PCI Express | None |
| IDE | 2 ATA133 compliant ports from VT8235 |
| IDE RAID | None |
| SATA | None |
| SATA RAID | None |
| Networking | VIA VT6103 FastEthernet PHY, 10/100Mbit, PC Card WiFi option |
| USB | VT8235, 2 x backplane USB2.0, headers for 2 more |
| FireWire | FireWire400, 1 backplane port (powered), from VIA VT6307S |
| Other I/O | PS/2, 1 x Serial, Floppy, on-board VGA, TV-out from VT1622A, Compact Flash Type II, PC Card |
| Possible Storage | 1 optical and 2 possible HDD |
Storage is taken care of by a 160GB Samsung Spinpoint 160GB ATA, with the T2.e chassis having room for one more with optical drive in place. The single PCI slot is occupied by a riser card that lets you connect three PCI devices, two slots on which are filled. A PCI GeForce FX 5200 with 128MB handles TV-out duties from its S-Video connector and a Black Gold DVB-T television tuner card does TV.
The Black Gold is a popular budget choice for those putting together MCE2005 PCs themselves. Based on a single Philips analogue tuner and a Connexant CX23881-17 broadcast processor, the Black Gold does digital terrestrial tuning for the T2.e/MCE2005.
A Matsushita/Panasonic DVD and CDRW combo drive, more commonly found in laptops due to its very low profile, gives you somewhere to feed DVD movies.
Tranquil then go on to put the EPIA MII's integrated features to good use, offering a WiFi option using the PC Card slot (supporting 802.11g) and using the 6-channel on-board audio for aural duties.
To sum up: it's VIA's EPIA MII at its core, using the 1.2GHz C3 processor option, with FX5200, 512MB of memory, a large hard disk and a DVB-T tuner, to complement the laptop optical drive and external expansion possibilities using the PC Card slot.
What's most interesting about it is how they wrap it up. If you've never seen a T2 chassis from Tranquil before, prepare to be somewhat impressed.
