VIA's new UMPC chipset half the size of Intel's

By Stuart Corner
Sunday, 09 July 2006 07:52

Technology

Taiwanese chipmaker, Via Technologies, has announced what it claims is the first single chipset for ultra mobile PCs (UMPCs) that will enable these devices to be produced with smaller form factors and extended battery life.

UMPC is a design concept developed by Microsoft, originally named Origami. For a device to be officially labeled as UMPC, it needs to conform to some pre-set hardware specifications which include:

Approximately 7” diagonal display (or smaller)
Minimum 800 x 480 resolution
Approximately 2 pounds (or 0.91 kilograms)
Integrated touch panel
WiFi- and Bluetooth-enabled
Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005.

Microsoft has a website devoted to UMPC.  There is an Intel-sponsored website devoted to the concept. http://www.umpc.com/ And Intel also has its own website dedicated to UMPCs.

The VIA VX700 chipset complements the VIA C7-M processor to provide the core silicon for a UMPC. VIA says it is able to reduce overall chip size and power considerably by combining the 'north bridge' and 'south bridge' functions onto a single chip.

According to a white paper  on the VX700 on VIA's website, the VX700 & VIA C7-M combination has a CPU 21x21mm, a north bridge 35x35mm adding up to total silicon real estate of 1666 sq mms. In contrast, the Intel Pentium-M ULV, 915GMS and ICH6-M combination represents total silicon real estate of  2915mm.

Chinhwaun Wu, special assistant to the president, processor platform product marketing, VIA Technologies, said: "Together with the VIA C7-M processor, VIA can now offer a platform that breaks form factor barriers while maintaining comprehensive performance, a leading feature set, and ultra-low power operation for longer battery life."

The VX700 & VIA C7-M combination will be used in one of the first UMPCs, the DualCor Technologies' cPC, According to VIA's VX700 announcement, it was expected to be available in the first half of 2006 and according to the DualCor web site, www.dualcor.com in the first quarter of 2006.