Taiwan's VIA Technologies has remained adamant that its Nano processors are faster than Intel's hugely-popular Atom, but the ultra-low-power chip has so far struggled to make an impact in a consumer market dominated by Intel's low-power part.
All isn't lost, though, as VIA's making friends with some big names. Earlier this year, Samsung announced that the follow-up to its successful Atom-powered NC10 netbook - the NC20 - would in fact be powered by a VIA Nano CPU.
Today, it's small-form-factor specialist Shuttle who is launching its VIA Nano-powered XS29F. The nettop-sized system, pictured below, features a 1GHz VIA Nano U1700 processor and VIA's VX800 IGP chipset.
The unit offers DVI and D-sub outputs, and has support for SATA II storage and up to 4GB of DDR2 memory.
The VX800's IGP - a VIA Chrome9 HC3 - provides support for VIA's Chromotion video engine, allowing for hardware acceleration of a number of video formats, as well as support for DirectX 9.
There's Ethernet connectivity, four USB ports and HD audio, too. Shuttle reckons it'll consume less than 50 watts at the most, and it's all passively cooled so users can expect near-silent operation.
We don't expect to see Intel's Atom looking worried, but we'll be taking a closer look at Shuttle's Nano-powered XS29F at next month's COMPUTEX.
Official press release: Silence is Golden in the Office with Shuttle's First VIA Nano-Based Mini PC
