Tranquil iXL review

Perfect?

As a long-time owner of a media centre PC so I am a bit confused by your assertion of the Tranquil's near perfection.

You have berated other PC's in the past for lack of Blu-Ray drive or tuner yet here you are willing to overlook these for a machine largely designed for media duties?

Anything costing that much intended as a media PC should possess a tuner, Blu-Ray AND a remote control as a pre-requisite.

As a bare-bones system it makes more sense but the price still seems too high for what you implying is little more than a case and motherboard.

By jefferson30 on 26 Aug 2010

How much?

I picked up an Asus Asrock last year for £240 inc VAT. That was smaller than this, nicer looking and came with dual core ATOM, ION graphics, 2GB RAM, 320GB HDD and DVD RW. This looks like the world's biggest rip-off compared to that. Plus the "you can always install your own slim blu-ray drive" comment assumes you can source one. I've been looking for a while and they don't seem to be available in the UK.

By Bassey1976 on 26 Aug 2010

Puzzled

I agree with jefferson30, this PC doesn't seem to have much expandability for TV tuners, sound cards or Wifi, and a relatively small starter harddisk for the money. Guess it is ultra silent though.

By PKeogh on 26 Aug 2010

Sorry - too expensive and not enough features

Agreed with the others. The media centre need to have at the least a Freeview tuner (not sure if HD versions are available) remote and Bluay as standard - and all of that for half the price.

If anything, I think the front room PC market is only just kicking into gear, not in its demise, as the technology becomes ever more accessible to the "average joe" and not just the enthusiast.

By sinster70 on 26 Aug 2010

No USB3 then!

What a shame that manufacturers are still manufacturing products with last generation technology! When are we going to see USB3 ports included?

By grahamft on 26 Aug 2010

Too expensive by half

so that is £350 for for a case and a motherboard. If this is an example of the pricing then this is a very poor deal. A media PC should be capable of playing games so the inability to add a graphics card severeky cripples this computer.

By Manuel on 26 Aug 2010

Thanks for the comments guys. To be sure, this isn't the world's cheapest media centre, but a front-room PC is a luxury item, and this one - being almost silent, attractively compact, terrifically energy efficient and powerful enough to make Windows Media Center feel very responsive indeed - is the most luxurious we've seen. It's worth noting that the price on this page includes a Media Center remote, and you can optionally order the iXL with a PCI-E Freeview tuner - though it's cheaper to buy and install your own rather than having Tranquil do it for you.

As for Blu-ray, I must draw your attention to a correction: in the one day (!) since this review was completed, Tranquil has started offering a Blu-ray rewriter option for £149 exc VAT. Again, it's cheaper to add your own: for example, www.micomonline.co.uk is currently offering the Sony BD-5730S for £104 exc VAT. It would be nice to be able to save more by opting for a simple reader, but as Bassey1976 notes, those are still thin on the ground. Hopefully that will change before long.

Ultimately, the iXL does lose a star due to its price, and it would have lost two but for Tranquil's highly flexible ordering system, which makes it easy to buy only what you need and complete the package with parts you already own (or which you've sourced from elsewhere). If you listen to the podcast you'll know that the iXL is the first media system in several years that's had several of us seriously considering splashing out ourselves. If that's not worth a recommendation, I don't know what is!

By DarienGS on 26 Aug 2010

eddi_ed

Am I the only one who is as concerned with upload speeds as with downloads? (apart from Griffin!)

By eddi_ed on 26 Aug 2010

comparison

It would be good to see a comparison of this with VeryPC's new i5 Broadleaf (both with a decent monitor and speakers added) along with the mac mini; all of them media-spec'd. The VeryPC Broadleaf is also silent, very low power and would sit well under a TV.
Given how expensive internet TVs such as top of the range LGs, Samsungs and Sonys are and how limited the internet access is on these (only v expensive Phillips's allow unrestricted internet browsing) I think something like this, the broadleaf or the Mac attached to a decent 28" Samsung monitor represents decent value. You would have a fully functional pc, Freeview tuner, Freeview recorder, and DVD player rolled into one. Moreover, hook it up to a set of decent speakers (e.g. M-Audio Studiophile Av40)and you can use it for internet radio and as a music player.
C'mon Darien. Do this for us!

By philhutchinson on 26 Aug 2010

Tranquility Media Centre

What does it do?
Does it need your TV screen?
How do you connect it to your router upstairs?
I find it very frustrating that reviewers assume a whole heap of knowledge on the part of the reader.
For example, although younger readers may be 100% familiar with the function of a media centre, someone who has not used one will have no idea. The thought that the bulk of the readership would be happy to pay up for a barebones systema and feel capable of installing their own CPU, memory etc. and most importantly, configuring the BIOS is a joke.
After 49 years in the industry I still flinch at the prospect of meddling with the BIOS.

By Jammy on 26 Aug 2010

Is it too much?

I am confused, if I want something that’s high quality, as fast as this and happy to spend a bit of money am I not saving money buy getting this box? Also, it certainly looks beautiful (black beauty) and I couldn’t put a price on silence!

By WindowsMan on 26 Aug 2010

... or I could spend more and buy a

....Mac mini, whats better and why? I cant see a reason to spend more on the mac?

By WindowsMan on 26 Aug 2010

... or I could spend more and buy a

....Mac mini, whats better and why? I cant see a reason to spend more on the mac?

By WindowsMan on 26 Aug 2010

You can add a graphics card...

Manuel,
I've been using my IXL with a low profile Asus HD 5450 1GB GDDR3 with passive cooling and I must say it handles all modern games quite well, even in 1680X1050.

By Andrew_M on 26 Aug 2010

Considered but rejected

I needed just such a machine recently, ie a living room PC. I was amazed that there are so few models available nowadays. Looked at the Tranquil models but they're very expensive for what's basically a standard PC without even a TV tuner. Tried a Dell Zino HD but it kept crashing so I sent it back. A subsequent glance at their forums revealed that lots of people had the same problem. Eventually settled on an Acer X3900 mini ATX desktop, plus USB freeview stick. Cost around half the price of the Tranquil and is excellent.

I've no idea why you're such fans of Tranquil, except that they're British. The machines are expensive, and for a media center PC to lack a TV tuner is unforgivable.

By Grace_Quirrel on 27 Aug 2010

Got it!

I ended up giving Tranquil a call today and placed my order with a win7 home prem, 2GB RAM 500GB HDD CD.DVD drive and a dual DVB-T tuner! for a little extra I’m getting it delivered this weekend - total cost £651 + vat, I could not find anything that offered such performance and quality for a better price, they even lazer etched my name on it for free!!

I can’t wait to get it tomorrow and will post my thoughts (fingers crossed).

By WindowsMan on 27 Aug 2010

whats wrong with a laptop?

I have an Acer laptop with 4GB ram,HDMI out,320gb hard drive and a blue ray drive built in and draft N wireless.I use that to hook up to my HD TV and stream of the internet.Cost £450 all in.Plus of course you can take it with you.Sorry i don't get the reason behind these Media PC's.If i wanted a TV tuner in it i can alway get a USB one for around £30.

By Jaberwocky on 29 Aug 2010

my thoughts

Ok so I got it, at its running to my TV and surround sound fine with no messing, I have just set my sky account in MCE and enjoying the 100's of films that sky offers to stream at no extra cost, also I like the Tranquil TV add in with all the BBC ect on demand programs all though I have just set up about 10 of mine and my wifes fav programs to series link record so this will just come in handy. I understand you may be able to get these results for less money but thats the same with the apple that the ixL is always being compaired too and this thing is in my view beautiful! I am pleased its got my family name etched on it! my only problem is trying to get used to the MCE keyboards mouse pointer, the remotes great but think I may look for a better mouse. Other than that you wont believe how fast this thing renders, ive been playing with solidworks and boy its fun to do it on a big screen! over all I say, yes its not cheap sure nor does it feel it, you could get some thing that could do the same things but... not as good looking as this, as quiet or knowing it was designed and made in the UK, thanks PC pro and to the other number of reviewers who gave this HTPC full marks you helped me make my mind up on what to buy and given the long life this should have with its fanless design its money well spent. If any one wants a PC that may be a well built as this but does not want to buy UK then an apple is I guess another choice but they dont hold 6 out of 6 stars in 2 reviews out of the 8 reviews that have recieved 6 out of 6 like tranquil do, and PC pro should know what their on about otherwise why would we look at the review. Thats all for now and if any one has any questions I'd be happy to give my feedback

By WindowsMan on 29 Aug 2010

Never again

Would you shell out £764 on a machine knowing that, were it to fail you would never be able to get Tranquil to repair it? I wouldn't; at least I wouldn't again

By pbateman1010 on 1 Sep 2010

Here's a thought

If you are after elegance as a component, then try the OrigenAE M10 case, which looks like the Tranquil is based around - £270 with VFD, Remote and slim drive

By sinster70 on 2 Sep 2010

....

I bought the SV16 and its stunning, but expensive.

By sinster70 on 2 Sep 2010

running and shutting off

Had just received a week ago an ixL i5 with a 680 processor. Using it as music servers it worked perfectly well but when I started to play a BlueRay disc it shut off after 10min. Temperature inside reached 70C, room temperature was only 18C and the Tranquil PC had free air circulation. I tried several times again, but no chance to keep it running longer. So I wrote to their support last Sunday (you can choose how urgent it is and I put on the highest urgency level) but received no answer except the automatic email response that they received it.

Then I sent the unit back with overnight service, telling them I need it urgently back. Again just an email saying that they received the unit and it goes to their technical service. On Friday I sent another email on my ticket to their support service and asked them to let me know what’s going on, again no answer till today. So I am sitting and waiting….. too bad that the money has gone already. Should have seen Pbateman1010's comment earlier.

By silent_freak on 24 Oct 2010

comment goes walk-about

You try to help warn others of a not to be trusted supplier and your comments go walk-about!

"are you really thinking of buying Tranquil?
I bought a Tranquil Media Centre; it went in for repair in MARCH 2010 and it's still there to this day. I'm not thinking of buying another Tranquil product - are you?

By pbateman1010 on 22 Oct 2010"

By pbateman1010 on 25 Oct 2010

Bent, battered but no better

Eight months on Tranquil have returned my daughters PC. First time (two weeks ago) a bent and battered unit was returned to me. This week a less bent unit has been return which is worse than when it was sent away. Scratched, parts missing and doesn't work - eight months to achieve nothing.

Anybody thinking of buying from this organisation needs to think long and hard before parting with so much as a penny!

By pbateman1010 on 1 Nov 2010

Shutting off

I have also had the shutting off problem (same spec) so I was interested to read the above comments. The latest word from tranquil is that it is due to a fault in some of the gigabyte boards they have been using ever since they switched to USB3. Apparently the old Intel boards (USB2) were okay. They have now stopped selling iXLs with gigabyte boards. They've gone back to Intel and USB2 again.

By wittonalbion on 8 Nov 2010

Windows Man

Hello Phil (Tranquil Director)...it must be.

Poor effort. Nobody else can surely be that blinded by Tranquil and their complete inept business practice.

By mega_byte on 12 Dec 2010

Windowsless Buyer

I'll have one of whatever WindowsMan is having, as it an't a Tranquil PC. My daughters has "owned" a Tranquil Media Centre for three years, it's worked for less than eight months during that time. Each repair by Tranquil leaves the machine in an increasingly degraded state, the repairs themselves can take months, and months, and months. And should you post a comment on this forum, then look forward to a rant from the Tranquil service manager all about how Tranquil don't want customer like me, ones that complain about repairs taking month, and not "appresiating" Tranquil.
Read these reviews and buy a Tranquil and you must need your head looking at!

By pbateman1010 on 15 Jan 2011

Customer Care

I rarely contribute to these comments pages - but on this occasion I think I should, as an employee of Tranquil PC.

We want to assure all Tranquil PC customers that we have been working hard to improve 'customer service'. Recent customer feedback and messages confirm that our current service is exceptional (we wish to maintain that as much as possible, but the reality is, there are rare occasions where an issue can take some time to resolve, perhaps on older systems where technology has moved on).

One contributor to this comments page does seem to have a suffered from a lower level of service than we like to deliver - and we have apologised to pbateman1010 for that occasion. However, supporting a PC that is many years out of warranty (4 yrs old) was not as straightforward as normal for us - it would not be easy for any systems manufacturer (technology does not stand still). But we did replace parts and carry out repairs - it's worth noting that all repairs / replacements etc were carried out without charge. As we have had no recent communication from pbateman1010 directly and we can only assume his 4 year old old media centre is now ok.

Should you have a Tranquil PC, you will know the benefits of these unique systems. If you need support we’re here to help, always. Our support centre is located here http://tranquilpc-support.co.uk – there you may find the answer to your question, if not please raise a support ticket, and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

By tranquilpc on 20 Jan 2011

My untranquil experience

I had nothing but trouble when ordering my Tranquil iXL.

5 Days after buying the Tranquil iXL I checked their website to find out they had an upgraded system on offer. This meant that the £1000 machine I ordered was out of date already. I could understand if they released the updated iXL a month later but as it was only 5 days after purchase I would of hoped the Tranquil customer service representative would of informed me of the new model but they did not. When I asked Tranquil about this they said that the customer service representative was not aware of the new model. I could understand this if it was a large company but Tranquil PC is not, and I was therefore hoping for a better level of customer service. Put it this way if you use Google maps to check out their warehouse it’s not exactly massive.

After a bit of bother and a few extra pounds Tranquil replaced the iXL. However Tranquil had not fully tested the upgraded model (The motherboard was upgraded to use USB 3). When it arrived, Tranquil had forgot to add the power block, HDMI cable and the OS DVD so I had to wait another couple of days before I could turn it on. When I did turn it on the unit would either blue screen randomly or turn its self off due to overheating. As you can guess after spending over £1000, waiting a month from order to receive the iXL I was not best pleased when I could not use it and when it did it stopped working.

When I spoke to Tranquil they originally said that they had a number of reports about the same problem from other users and that the issue was due to the power block. Why Tranquil did not contact me first to inform me that there could be problems with the unit I would put down to bad customer service. After a few days of chasing Tranquil they then said it was to do with the new motherboard and that they will be reverting back to use the original motherboard. As the iXL had overheated and the problems that this creates for the lifespan of the CPU etc I did not want the same unit sent back to me, so I asked for a full refund. I personally think it was ridiculous that they released a system without fully testing it first. I did not pay over £1000 to be a guinea pig for their product.

After spending weeks continually phoning and emailing them they eventually provided the refund. The term two men and a shed comes to mind when I think of Tranquil. After a catalogue of faults with the iXL and their customer service I could in no way recommend purchasing from them. The thing that really annoys me is that the iXL itself looks the part and if it had worked would of been a decent HTPC.

I have build a few HTPCs for mates but due to money restrictions the fans and casing etc where not the most silent. This was why after spending months researching the different types of HTPCs that I thought the Tranquil iXL would be perfect as it was completely silent. Thankfully the iXL did not work as I was able to buy the Acer Revo 100 for half the price and have been able to add an extra 2GB and SSD drive to make it into a slick and silent HTPC. Even without the SSD the Revo is virtually silent.

If anyone from Tranquil disagrees with any of the above information I have kept all emails and transcripts and will be more than happy to go over it all with them again.

By FizzyMonkey on 28 Jan 2011

The famous T2 PC is back... from the dead

Tranquil say:

One contributor to this comments page does seem to have a suffered from a lower level of service than we like to deliver - and we have apologised to pbateman1010 for that occasion. However, supporting a PC that is many years out of warranty (4 yrs old) was not as straightforward as normal for us - it would not be easy for any systems manufacturer (technology does not stand still). But we did replace parts and carry out repairs - it's worth noting that all repairs / replacements etc were carried out without charge

Having read the comments here on those quality Tranquil products, would you part with your cash?

By pbateman1010 on 9 Jun 2011

Be warned

I was looking for a nice 'Lounge' PC. Read the review and thought this will do. Oh what a mistake that was.
Phoned Tranquil having struggled a little with the dead links on their website who advised me to order from Dabs, it will be quicker they said. Dabs hold stock of some models.
1st machine arrived, it was DOA, these things happen I thought.
Dabs were polite & helpful, they collected the 1st machine & delivered the 2nd.
This one at least powered up, however, in the month since it arrived Tranquil have had it more than I have. They now say ‘send it back to Dabs for a refund’, they can’t fix it.
I then get the email asking for my address with ‘no fault found’ in the description of work done, this is after many telephone calls (all initiated by me and when the ‘Support Dept.’ not available - call never returned) discussing the various problems.
These problems include that it can not play, or rip, certain CDs, about 1 in 8 was the ratio over about 50 disks (the issue is not specific to the actual disk, the same fault is there with other copies of the same CD).
Playing a CD is a prime function for a Media Centre PC I would have thought, however, the support dept tell me none of their slim drive machines work, they’ve been testing them with the CD. Their explanation is that the CD was, and I quote ‘pressed in the Philippines’. The fact that any other PC, or music system has no problem etc, need I say more. They have chosen to ignore the issues with networking & sound from the optical port, faulty main board I suspect.
Tranquil seem incapable of initiating telephone calls or emails or responding to messages left, the whole episode has been enormously disappointing & leaves a very bitter taste following such a glowing review in PC-Pro.
Never again.

By Scrivy on 26 Aug 2011

Customer Support

I have to support a lot of the comments made here about support (or lack of) and the overall experience of dealing with Tranquil. The products do not come working out of the box. Mine came with the wrong versions of software. When asking for support it was cursory at best and very amateurish.
The products are not total solutions. The documentation is virtually none existent and when I asked questions of the support team they did not (on the whole) reply. Either they did not know the answer or they did not care, both worrying positions for a technology company.
It is clear that Tranquil’s capability is in hardware design. Their manufacturing is OK though my media centre is very noisy when playing particular DVDs.
What tranquil is not is a retail company providing media solutions. I would suggest anyone wanting such a solution is better off buying a low noise PC and loading the software products themselves. At least you will know what you have and how they are configured. Also it will I expect, be cheaper.

By Cynic on 24 Nov 2011