Laptops Arena

A little itsy-bitsy netbook capable of 1080p video? While this makes me shiver, I can only think about the paradox that we're going to have a netbook able to do what it can't do. How's that? Well, we may have a 1080p capable CPU+GPU pair, but I don't even want to think how ridiculous would be to have a 10-inch display with 1920X1080 resolution...

...but that's no big deal for now, because we're only talking about a mainboard reference design from VIA. Even more, you can say I'm a fool, and I won't mind, because the full HD video will be played only using external displays. Now I'm really left in the dust! What can I say?

You probably know that I am not really crazy about laptops when a desktop computer can get the job done, and despite the fact I like netbooks a lot, the idea of having a full HD-capable device that needs an external display to go full HD is a bit strange...
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The real story is very short, since the VIA Surfboard C855 has been officially announced by Via Technologies, and this solution is built around the new VX855 chipset, with a really impressive feature list:

- 1080p Full HD video playback
- 8-channel HD audio
- hardware decoding for H.264, MPEG-2/4, VC-1 and WMV9
-support for Bluetooth, WiFi, GPS and 3G connectivity

The best part comes at the end, since the company behind it claims this platform is able to play HD video with less than 40 percent CPU load, with up to 1366 x 768 internal display resolution, and no less than 1920 x 1440 when using some external display. Damn, that's HOT!

Today, I want to show you some VIA-powered mini laptop computers, which are not available worldwide but might catch your interest starting with the exterior design and ending with integrated technologies they bring with.

I’ll start with the Aristo Pico 640 available in Poland, a laptop measuring 243.1 × 171.9 × 28.5-42.5 mm at just 1.09 kg, featuring a durable construction and being powered by the VIA C7-M Ultra Low Voltage processor with a speed of 1GHz.
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The chipset is a VIA VX800 and this small laptop has a 7-inch display with a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels, integrating 1GB DDR2 RAM memory expandable up to 2GB, 40GB GDD storage, a 4-in-1 card reader, Wireless LAN, stereo speakers, and built-in web camera for video conferences.



A bit higher processing speed is encountered at the other Aristo mini laptop computers, Pico 740, which operate at 1.2GHz processing speeds with a VIA CPU and a VX700 chipset, integrating 1GB DDR2 RAM, up to 80GB HDD, optional webcam, sporting a 7-inch display, all weighting 0.97Kg. Optionally you can add Bluetooth, TV tuner and the GPS module for navigation.



Kira 100/200/300/400 series laptops are available in Spain at Airis in a few rich colors and with a 1GHz VIA CPU, VIA VX800 chipset, a 7-inch display, up to 1GB DDR2 RAM, up to 4GB flash SLC storage or 40GB HDD, a 3-in-1 card reader, Wireless LAN, web camera, and a 6-hour battery, all encased in a 1.1-Kg-casing.



One Mini Notebook A110/A115/A120/A140/A150 mini laptop computers run at 1GHz with the VIA VX800, 512MB DDR2, up to 4GB flash or 60GB HDD, WLAN, web camera, and feature a 7-inch display on which you can play different applications brought by the Windows XP operating system that comes pre-installed on the system or Linux. These models are available in Germany.



If you have the chance to visit Australia or you live there, you might be interested in the Pioneer DreamBook Light CE26 7-inch mini laptop computers with touch-sensitive screen, a 1.2GHz processor, VIA VX700 chipset, up to 1GB DDR2 RAM, up to 100GB HDD, a 4-in-1 card reader, WLAN, web camera, Bluetooth, TV tuner, GPS, all weighting 0.97Kg. Another option would be the Pioneer DreamBook Light IL1 (I'd Love 1) system available at $440 Australian Dollars, coming with the same main features.



Ufotek Datron Mobee can be found in Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria, with the 1GHz processor, VX800 chipset, up to 2GB DDR2 RAM, 4GB flash or 120GB HDD, a 3-in-1 card reader, WLAN, web camera, a 6-hour battery, all weighting 1.1Kg.



Elonex Webbook has a price of £249 and is available in the United Kingdom with the VIA C7-M 1.6 GHz CPU, the VX700 chipset, a larger display of 10.2 inches and resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels. Other features include 512MB RAM, 80GB HDD, WLAN and the Windows XP operating system pre-installed.



Envision Smart I mini laptop computers from China run at 1.6GHz with the VIA VX700 chipset, 2GB memory, a 3-in1 card reader, WLAN, and sport a 10.2-inch display.



VIA mini laptop computers start a new trend in China:


TongFang Mini S1 is also a model from China, and sports an elegant design integrating a 1.6GHz processor, a 10.2-inch display, 2GB memory, a 4-in-1 card reader, Dual OS selection, WLAN and web camera.

The VIA OpenBook Mini-Note laptop won the Gold Award at Computex Taipei 2008 for design and innovation.

"VIA is extremely pleased to receive this prestigious award for design and innovation," commented Richard Brown, Vice President of Marketing, VIA Technologies. "It certainly validates our efforts to take the VIA OpenBook to the next level of style and customization."
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As you probably have noticed, the mini laptop computers industry is growing continuously, and the OpenBook is the second generation of ultra portable mini laptops, after the VIA NanoBook.
High-end features of the new model include high-speed broadband connectivity, high-quality audio/video, impressive 3D computer graphics thanks to the VIA Chrome9 DirectX 9.0, very light weight of less than 1 Kg, all these in a small form factor running with the VIA C7-M Ultra Low Voltage processor clocked at 1.6 GHz, VIA VX800 unified digital media IGP chipset, and on Microsoft Windows Vista Basic, Microsoft Windows XP, or http://www.linux.org/"> Linux.


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It sports a 8.9-inch LED display with a resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels, and provides support for MPEG-2, MPEG-4, WMV9, VC1 and DiVX video formats, VMR capable HD video processor, 8-channel HD audio with 2 speakers, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, optional A-GPS, optional WiMAX, HSDPA or EV-DO/W-CDMA 3G, 3 USB ports, VGA port, audio-in/audio-out jacks, a 4-in-1 card reader, a built-in 2MP dual-headed CCD web camera, 2GB DDR2 DRAM memory, 80GB HDD, optional Solid State Drive storage.



VIA OpenBook measures 240 x 175 mm, 36.2 mm thick, and is powered by a 4-cell battery.

TGIC Digital is launching its MX Nanobook in Korea to impress the world with a 7-inch display with 800 X 480 pixels resolution, module dock, and a VoIP unit, perfect competitor for the Eee PC.
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What we know so far is that the VIA Nanobook is powered by a VIA C7-M processor at 1200 MHz, has the VIA Unichrome Pro graphics, 512MB of RAM memory, 30GB HDD storage, and connects through USB 2.0, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g, and Bluetooth 2.0.

There will be no Wireless WAN, but an important feature will be the multi-format card reader the laptop will come with.
The few specs we’ve found show more options for the Windows operating system installed, and also the device’s measurements.
MX Nanobook weights 850 grams and measures 230x171x30 mm.

That’s all the info we have at the moment. We’ll keep in touch.