NetbookTech

I figured this would be of some interest to netbook lovers and followers out there. VIA Technologies finally began commercial shipments of Nano processor last week. Why is this important you might ask? Well the VIA Nano is arguably the only competitor to the Intel Atom processor for the netbook market. Utilizing a superscaler design, the VIA Nano has a slightly higher thermal envelope than the Atom processor yet may provide better performance at times (though this has been somewhat controversial as several publications have noted that the Atom processor actually outperforms the Nano – especially in multi-tasking, multi-threaded operations thanks to hyper-threading on the Atom).

Now it should be noted that there are no known VIA Nano based netbooks planned for the near future.. but the Nano is pin compatible with the C7 processor which means any product with the C7 could in theory utilize the Nano easily.  From the netbook front, HP is the only notable C7 integrator with their HP Mini-Note system but it’s unclear if HP will come out with an upgraded system featuring the Nano processor (although it would be neat to see DIYers replace the C7 with the Nano in those boxes).

VIA does think that the future of netbooks resides in more powerful larger-screen systems. In a News.com interview, Glenn Henry, head of VIA’s Centaur Technology subsidiary, had this to say:

“Everyone wants to build a (netbook) of some variety these days.Most of the interest we see from customers is for a larger screen than the HP (2133). There’s a lot of demand to move those things up to higher screen sizes.”

I don’t know about you, but I like my 8.9 inch/10 inch screen. Sure a larger 12 inch screen would be better on the eyes.. but it’s more bulk that I simply don’t want to deal with.

[Check it out]