VIA VX800 Unified Chipset

A few weeks ago analyzing the Intel Atom processors for UMPC I said that to me the future of UMPC is going to be VIA. The announcement of the VX800 Chipset a IGP that works with the newest VIA Isaiah Architecture is pointing to a generation of UMPC using these technologies that will be a lot more attractive to OEMs and buyers. I don't think this is going to bring a performance of a Core Solo but I would not be surprised to see this outperforming the A110, Atom, Intel Celeron M and land with a performance close to a Pentium M.

With every release of VIA you can see a step forward. Something that I don't see on Intel in the last two years where they went from the Pentium M architecture to a weaker Atom. UMPC should be a balance between performance and battery life. And that's what I see in VIA. What I see on Intel is a unbalanced equation favoring battery life and ignoring the performance demands. Which to me is a clear indication of favoring other more weaker device such as MID.    

Key Features of the VIA VX800Uthis

• High Performance 3D Graphics: The VIA Chrome9™ HC3 integrated graphics core boasts full DirectX 9.0 support
• Powerful Image Enhancement Technology: The VIA Chromotion™ video engine delivers a Hi-Def™ visual experience, including advanced video acceleration for  MPEG-2, MPEG-4, WMV9, VC1 and DiVX video formats, plus a VMR capable HD video processor.
• The Warmth of HD Audio: The built-in VIA Vinyl HD Audio controller supports up to eight high definition channels with a 192kHz sampling rate, delivering a richer all-round digital media experience.
• Intuitive Memory Technology: VIA's renowned memory controller technology supports the lower power, high-bandwidth DDR2 memory modules.
• Seamless Networking: Makes Wifi connectivity easy, with added support for Gigabit Ethernet networking and 10/100 Fast Ethernet.
• Extended Peripheral Connectivity: Interconnects up to PCI Express for high bandwidth peripherals, plus hard drive connectivity up to SATA II as well as PATA (IDE), six USB2.0 ports, and four PCI slots.
• Display Flexibiity: An integrated multi-configuration LVDS transmitter enables display connection to embedded panels, as well as CRT monitors.
• Consumer Electronics Interfaces: Supports the low power device interfaces of SDIO, UART and SPI, as well as for the popular memory card interfaces of SD, MMC and MS for specialist embedded and CE designs.

VIA VX800 Unified Chipset: For Even Greater x86 Miniaturization - VIA Technologies, Inc.