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.
sa: http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/4892/127/