VIA powers raft of tiny UMPCs

 

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By Clive Webster in Taiwan

Posted on 7 Jun 2007 at 10:05

A range of new Ultra Mobile PCs (UMPC) based on VIA's ultra-efficient processor has been unveiled at Computex. The 2GHz VIA C7-M processor consumes only 20W under full load, making it ideal for the portable PCs. A number of devices were on display, from manufacturers such as Samsung, OQO and Gigabyte, and all the models would fit in a trouser or jacket pocket.

OQO in particular has produced an impressively small device, with a slide-up screen revealing a full QWERTY keyboard. Dubbed the OQO Model 02, the device is pleasingly light to hold, yet solidly made. There's built-in 802.11a/b/g and Bluetooth, a 60GB hard disk and 1GB of DDR2 RAM. The screen sliding mechanism is firm, and the keys are just about large enough for precise typing.

The display unit didn't have a touch screen but VIA confirmed that the retail model would; this will make the Model 02 much more usable as the trackpoint and mouse buttons are fiddly. VIA refused to confirm which C7-M processor was powering the Model 02, but it was running Vista surprisingly snappily.

The Model 02 also has a compact docking station. The base is an optical drive while the aluminium arm is adjustable in height and tilt to hold the Model 02 at just the right angle. With Vista handling the dual-screen setup, you only have to plug the Model 02 in and its desktop will appear on your monitor. And to take the Model 02 on your travels, you only have to yank it out of the stand and Vista will return the desktop to the device's 5in screen.

The Samsung UMPC was a version of the Q1, which we've already seen, while the Medion and Gigabyte devices may not make it to the UK.

For PC Pro's coverage of the latest news from Computex 2007 see: www.pcpro.co.uk/html/computex2007