Computex: Via trots out mini notebook, mobile motherboard
Via Technologies has unfurled a prototype for a mini notebook that will compete against similar small computers touted by Samsung and Intel, but sell for less.
Lower power means less heat. As a result, hobbyists have gravitated to the company's motherboards and chips for turning PCs into cigar boxes and Star Wars shrines. Portable computer maker Oqo has put a Via chip into its latest pocket-size PC. The NanoBook will run for about 5 hours on a battery charge when running Windows XP, said Richard Brown, vice president of Marketing at Via. The computer comes with a 1.2GHz C7 chip, a 30GB hard drive and up to 1GB of memory. The NanoBook also comes with a 7-inch screen, sports a regular (albeit slightly smaller) keyboard and weighs about 820g. PC makers will sell it for US$599 or less, cheaper than similar computers. Samsung said its latest Q1 ultramobile computers, powered by Intel chips, will cost between US$799 and US$1,199. Oqo charges US$1,499 for its PC. So far, one European manufacturer has agreed to produce a NanoBook. Via may also land a deal with a US manufacturer in about a month, Brown added. NanoBook prototypes are being made by FIC, a Taiwanese manufacturer (FIC and Via grew out of the same family fortune). Mini notebooks and portable computers currently occupy only a small niche. Consumers worried about the smaller screens, comparatively high prices, smaller keyboards and other factors have typically stuck with regular notebooks.
"You've got to carry a notebook everywhere these days, even if you're taking the kids out," he said. "I look at it as extreme mobility." The motherboard for smart phones is now a design concept, but Via hopes to have working prototypes and possibly products on shelves by next year. The chip will be based on the x86 architecture, the same one used inside the vast majority of the world's notebooks and PCs. The goal is to get the processor on the motherboard to consume only a quarter of a watt, relatively low for a so-called x86 chip. Right now, most phones use chips based on the ARM architecture. ARM chips typically consume less power, but don't provide the same level of performance as x86 chips. "The challenge is for the x86 guys to scale down," Brown said. "But the phone guys will have to scale up."
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