| Mini-ITX-based car PC gains slim CD drive |
Jan. 24, 2007
 Mini-ITX system integrator Mini-box.com has updated its Windows XP-compatible car PC, adding room for a slim ATAPI drive, and a pudgier, more futuristic faceplate. The revised VoomPC-2 also comes standard with a more powerful mini-ITX motherboard, based on a 1.5GHz Via C7 processor.
Original Voom PC
(Click for info) |
Mini-box teamed with with chipmaker Via in designing the original Voom car PC (pictured at right). That system came with one of Via's most powerful boards of the time, the MII-1200.
When purchased as a barebones PC, the new VoomPC-2 comes with a Jetway Hybrid J7F2WE1G5D, a mini-ITX board based on a 1.5GHz version of Via's newer C7 processor. The C7 improves upon Via's C3 by adding a full- rather than half-speed FPU (floating point unit), and by supporting faster memory, among other improvements.
Jetway Hybrid J7F2WE1G5D
The Jetway board offers an impressive array of onboard I/O ports, including VGA, S-Video, USB 2.0, Firewire, Ethernet, and "smart 5+1" audio.
Jetway Hybrid J7F2WE1G5D
The Jetway board supplied with the VoomPC-2 comes with a daughtercard (photo) that adds PCMCIA and CompactFlash Type-I/II slots, presumably for the addition of WiFi and cellular data modem cards. Mini-box.com also offers various other Jetway daughter cards separately, including cards with one or three 10/100 or GigE ports, and cards with two or four additional serial ports.
Being fully PC compatible, the Jetway board should support both Windows CE and XP Embedded with no problems.
The basic VoomPC-2 barebones PC also includes an "M1-ATX intelligent vehicle car PC PSU," the same DC-DC converter supplied with the original Voom (read more about the M1-ATX here). A 180-Watt M2-ATX supply is also available, for users wishing to use the VoomPC-2 with more powerful boards -- for example, how about Acrosser's recently announced AR-B1892, based on an Intel Core 2 Duo processor with a 667MHz FSB, and featuring 16x PCIe expansion?
The M1-ATX power integrates with auto ignition and stereo systems
Despite its bristling, heat-sink-encrusted appearance, the VoomPC-2 case does not appear to use heat pipe technology, unlike the recently announced passively cooled Serener GS-L05 case. Nevertheless, Mini-box.com says the VoomPC-2 has been tested for continuous operation at 131 degrees Fahrenheit (55 degrees Celsius), as well as cold start-up at temperatures down to -40 degrees Fahrenheit (-40 degrees Celsius).
Availability
The Mini-box.com VoomPC-2 case is available now, priced at $120. The Mini-box.com M1-ATX and M2-ATX DC-DC converters are also available now, priced at $80 and $90, respectively. The VoomPC-2 barebones system is priced at $400, including the VoomPC-2 case, M1-ATX power supply, and a Jetway Hybrid J7F2WE1G5D board with CompactFlash and PCMCIA daughtercard, cable harness, and a slim CD-ROM to 2.5" IDE adapter.
Mini-box.com also offers several small LCD displays and a wide range of mini-ITX boards and components to complement the VoomPC-2.
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