Tronsmart is branching out from Android devices and released a product aimed squarely at the DIY crowd. The Tronsmart Ara BJ19 is a barebones mini-PC, similar to Intel’s NUC kits.
Based on the Intel Bay Trail J1900 quad core CPU which runs at speeds up to 2.4 GHz. The base unit costs $129. As with most bare-bones systems, you’ll need to add memory and a hard drive in order to have a working PC. Tronsmart does give the customer the option of a few different hard drive and SSD options, as you can see in the chart at the end of this article.
All of the usual features come standard, 3 USB 2.0 ports, 1 USB 3.0 port, headphone\mic ports, 10/100/1000 wired Ethernet are all standard. One curious change is that there is a DisplayPort for video out in addition to the HDMI port.
The case is 4.6 in x 4.4 in x 2.0 in, which makes it a little larger than the Tronsmart Vega S89. Like the Vega, the Ara BJ19 has a black plastic case, but they add a glossy acrylic panel on the top of the unit. In my opinion, this gives it a look and feel similar to the ASUS Chromebox or one of the Intel NUC’s I mentioned earlier.
One of the biggest potential challenges for Tronsmart with this product is the sheer number of competing barebones PC’s that are around this price point. A quick search pulled up potential boxes from both ASUS and Gigabyte for less than the $129 that Tronsmart is suggesting. Both of those are respected computer manufacturers who have been making components for a long time. To be honest, I’m not sure there’s a market for the Tronsmart Ara BJ19 at this price point.
But, if you’re looking to try your hand at building your own PC, you can pick up the Tronsmart Ara BJ19 at Geekbuying using this link.
Thanks to Brad Linder at Liliputing for the scoop.
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