Report: VIA to Launch Atom Competitor

The netbook market what it is today (growing, in case you’ve spent all of 2008 under a rock at the bottom of a very deep lake), it’s no real surprise to hear chip companies are working on ways to grab some of the market share currently dominated by Intel’s Atom processor.

With new mobile processors already on the way from the likes of AMD, it looks like VIA is all set to release its own dual core targeted toward netbooks. VIA was no doubt feeling a little left out in the cold when the netbook processor market was ripped out from underneath it by Intel’s Atom; and CNet reports (citing Chinese site HKEPC) that VIA is working on a low power, dual-core Nano 3000 processor which is expected around the end of 2009 or 2010.

Looking at the volume of netbooks on the market, we’re pleased to see a little competition for Intel. The Atom is ever present on the netbook scene giving Intel the clear victory at the moment. A bit of healthy competition never hurt anyone.

For the demanding road warrior, Intel made headlines at the beginning of the week with the launch of its low cost, quad core mobile processor, the Q9000, and four other dual core mobile processors. Check out the full story on the Q9000 here and hit CNet or HKEPC for more details on VIA’s Nano 3000.

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Jane McEntegart is a writer, editor, and marketing communications professional with 17 years of experience in the technology industry. She has written about a wide range of technology topics, including smartphones, tablets, and game consoles. Her articles have been published in Tom's Guide, Tom's Hardware, MobileSyrup, and Edge Up.

4 Comments Comment from the forums

zodiacfml

unlikely competition.
the atom is too small and low power, too many by volume,and then too cheap which fits netbooks perfectly.
this via dual core is for those wanting to do more on netbooks for a higher cost and less battery life, but laptops are like that. :)
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apache_lives

Intel HAS to do something with that 22w chipset of theres (http://www.intel.com/assets/pdf/designguide/307504.pdf)
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mforce2

Now if only they could build the damn thing too. I remember the Via Nano being announced and performance benchmarks and stuff.
Better performance than the Atom and such , that's all cool but there's no Nano in sight actually. It's all still based on those old and poor performing Via C7.
Let's say that for some reason manufacturers like the Atom better but still there's the Via produced mini-ITX boards and even in those there's no real sign of the new Nano CPU.
I said this before I wish Via could get their act together and really compete with Intel but to be honest they never seemed to capable of getting their act together and releasing a quality product.
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apache_lives

haha its VIA - they will release a product thats always faster then the competition... 2 years LATE.

VIA KT600 is a prime example.
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