Via spins netbook motherboard

"The enhanced video is courtesy of the recently announced VX855, a core-logic chip that combines northbridge and southbridge functionality, uses just 2.3 Watts, and measures only 27 x 27mm. According to Via, this chip permits decoding of H.264, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, and VC-1 video, while using only 40 percent of a host CPU's resources.

"The VX855 is designed to support Via's Eden, C7, and Nano processors. The relatively new, 64-bit Nano has just started to appear in netbooks, such as Samsung's NC20 and Dr. Mobile's FreeStyle 1300n (right), and we're a bit surprised not to see it in the Surfboard. Presumably for cost reasons, Via has instead selected its older C7-M ULV, which dates back to 2006. At the same time, with its in-order execution pipeline, the C7 is arguably more akin than the Nano to the Atom chips that have fared so well in the netbook space."

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