14 DAY TRIAL // Usually, when making a multimedia-oriented personal computer, PC suppliers go for a compact design and hardware components that both fulfill their intended roles and have reasonably accessible price points. This has enabled the setting up of a full-fledged HTPC market segment. From time to time, however, one company or another will decide to take a product concept and drive all of its assets to the extreme, even if that means pushing prices over the top. This is exactly what Tranquil PC seems to have been aiming for when it devised the ixL PowerPC.
The very name of the product should be enough to suggest the nature of this computer. Essentially, it is a compact desktop which, even though it has an Intel Core i3-530 CPU at its heart, with a clock of 2.93GHz, makes do with a completely fanless construction.
To make matters even more interesting, the company also put together a version of the same machine that can handle the 3.2GHz-capable Core i5-650.
ixL Power PC takes either of the aforementioned chips and pairs it with up to 4GB of memory, a 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch HDD and, of course, a slim optical storage solution, which can either be a CD/DVD unit or a Blu-ray drive. The feature set also includes a PCI Express x16 slot, for adding a low profile discrete graphics card, as well as the necessary connectivity and I/O options, such as Gigabit Ethernet.
Tranquil PC managed to pack all of these components together inside a 6 kilogram product whose chassis measures 240 (W) x 250 (D) x 110 (H) mm. Its TranCool4 cooling system is tasked with keeping the entire rig alive. Prices for the Core i3-530 and Core i5-650 models start as 'low' as £389 and £459, respectively, but can go as high as £742 ($1,100). Shipments are already being carried out.