Advantech announced a 22-inch panel PC designed for medical applications. The POC-227 includes Intel Core 2 Duo or Celeron processors, an optical disk drive, four isolated serial ports and an IEEE 1394a port, plus a SAW (surface acoustic wave) touchscreen, the company says.

Advantech has already offered a variety of medical PCs, including the MICA-101 tablet device for clinicians and the PIT-1501W "infotainment terminal" for patients. The company's new POC-227 is intended for practitioners in "image intense" fields such as digital radiology, anesthesia, or endoscopy, the company says.

The POC-227 is touted as offering "outstanding 3D graphics" via its GM45 Express chipset, which consists of the GM45 GMCH (graphics memory controller hub) and ICH (I/O controller hub) 9M. The chipset includes Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD, with graphics core speeds up to 533MHz, and support for high-definition video playback, according to Intel.

Advantech's POC-227
(Click to enlarge)

Advantech says the POC-227's 3D graphics performance can be boosted 150 percent in a configuration including an optional MXM graphics card. No further details were provided, but MXM (Mobile PCI Express Module) slots were designed by Nvidia and are predominantly used to add that company's discrete GPUs (graphics processing units).

Processing power for the POC-227 is provided by Intel's 2.53GHz Core 2 Duo T9400 (35 Watt TDP), the 2.2GHz Core 2 Duo P8400 (25 Watt TDP), or the 2.0GHz Celeron M575 (31 Watt TDP), according to Advantech. The device supports up to 4GB of DDR3 memory via two 2GB SODIMMs, and will support 8GB in a future iteration, the company adds.

Advantech says the left side of the POC-227 houses its mass storage, which includes an externally swappable 2.5-inch SATA hard disk drive and a DVD-RW device (Blu-ray is an available upgrade). The right side of the PC, meanwhile, offers a smart card reader, according to the company.

Ports on the bottom of Advantech's POC-227
(Click to enlarge)

The bottom of the device, pictured above, features two isolated gigabit Ethernet ports, four USB 2.0 ports, a PS/2 port, and a DVI-I output for an external display, according to Advantech. Also found below are a microphone input and speaker/line output, plus four isolated serial ports (three RS232, and one RS232/422/485), the company adds.

Sealed against dust and liquids to the IPX1 medical standard, and hence cleanable with sanitizing agents, the POC-227 offers a SAW (surface acoustic wave) touchscreen with a resolution of 1680 x 1050 pixels. This touchscreen is said to transmit 92 percent of the underlying display's light and to offer a durability of 50 million touches.

According to Advantech, a standard resistive touchscreen is available instead. Economy would seem to be the only reason to choose this option, since the resistive screen offers a lower durability of 36 million touches and lets only 80 percent of the display's light shine through, according to the company.

Finally, the POC-227 has one PCI Express x4 expansion slot and one Mini PCI Express slot, Advantech says. The latter apparently houses the device's available 802.11b/g/n wireless networking module.

Features and specifications listed by Advantech for the PIT-1501W include:

• Processor — Intel 2.53GHz Core 2 Duo T9400, 2.2GHz Core 2 Duo P8400, or 2.0GHz Celeron M575
• Chipset — GM45 Express
• Memory — expandable to 4GB of DDR3 RAM via two slots (8GB support forthcoming)
• Storage — 2.5-inch SATA hard disk drive and optical drive (DVD or Blu-ray)
• Display –22-inch surface acoustic wave or resistive touchscreen with 1680 x 150 pixel resolution, 300-nit brightness rating, and 1000:1 contrast ratio
• Keys — volume control, reading light control, brightness control
• Expansion:
  • 1 x PCI Express x4 slot
  • 1 x PCI Mini Express slot
• Networking:
  • LAN — 2 x isolated gigabit Ethernet
  • WLAN — 802.11b/g/n (optional)
• Other I/O:
  • Smart card reader
  • 4 x USB 2.0
  • Speakers/line out and microphone in
• 1 x PS/2
• 1 x IEEE 1394a
• 1 x DVI-I
• 4 x isolated serial (1 x RS232/422/485, 3 x RS232)
• Power requirements — 100 to 240 VAC
• Operating temperature — 32 to 104 deg. F (0 to 40 deg. C)
• Dimensions — 20.86 x 16.9 x 5.31 inches (530 x 430 x 135mm)
• Weight — 25.35 pounds (11.5kg)

Availability

Advantech did not release pricing or availability for the PIT-1501W, but the device appears to be on sale now. More information on the device may be found on the company's website, here.

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