June 27 - 3:40pm EDT   Taiwan's VIA Technologies today announced its slimmest Pico-ITX motherboard to date with the EPIA P700 Pico-ITX. To save space, it features an integrated power supply and is meant for use in ultra-compact systems. The P700 also sports in-line I/O pin-headers, Gigabit LAN support and a SATA II interface. The board comes with VIA's VX700 IGP chipset and a choice of a 1GHz C7 or fanless 500MHz Eden ULV processor. [full story]

June 5 - 9:00am EDT   VIA this morning continued a string of announcements for its computer platforms with the launch of Mini-ITX 2.0, its latest platform for mini desktop PCs. The spec for mainboards is designed to allow small (6.7in square), quiet systems using processors such as VIA's own Nano but is unique in mandating a full-speed, 16-lane PCI Express 2.0 slot; the requirement gives all systems room for a fast video card, virtually guaranteeing support for DirectX 10 and OpenGL 2 in games and other apps that demand advanced 3D; an integrated DirectX 9-class chipset is also present as a fallback. [full story]

May 29 - 3:35pm EDT   Earlier today, VIA Technologies made public details on its new Nano processing chip family that comprises five processors. VIA claims improved performance compared to its own C7 processors, and has provided test results it says prove the fact. The competition is also squarely in sights, as the Nanos' x86 instruction set allows it to run the same software as Intel's Atom and AMD Celeron M CPUs, with which the Nano was designed to compete. Performance comparisons are already surfacing from independent sources. [full story]

May 27 - 6:00am EDT   VIA this morning set out its version of the future for micro notebooks with the OpenBook. The 8.9-inch portable is the sequel to last year's NanoBook and earns its name through its uniquely open-source chassis. Unlike most stock designs, the blueprints for the outer panels are put under a liberal Share Alike version of the Creative Commons license: this lets third-party PC makers freely remake the outside of the notebook without the trouble of negotiating for a license. The shift will give many companies a unique PC of their own that gets to market for less money and more quickly than rivals, VIA hopes. [full story]

May 15 - 11:00pm EDT   Mobile processor manufacturer VIA on Thursday announced it would commence shipments of 45nm processor fabrications in 2009, as well as the company's first dual-core chips. DigiTimes writes that insiders have brought to light some of the specs, with the Isaiah-based dual-core processor allegedly featuring a 2GHz core frequency. The chip will sit on an 800 to 1333MHz bus, and will feature two pairs of 64KB L1 cache, and 1MB L2 cache. [full story]

May 8 - 11:45am EDT   Offering its own take on low-cost desktops, MSI has released the Titan, its early answer to ASUS' E-DT system. At 9.4 by 7.3 inches, the system is larger than some of its planned rivals but also includes a 250GB hard drive in its frame; size is kept down by using a 2GHz Via C7-M mobile processor at the Titan's heart and by using a notebook-sized DVD burner and hard disk. These also keep it quiet and greener than full desktops, MSI says. The system is also software-indepedent: rather than ship with Linux or Windows, the Titan comes as-is for users comfortable installing their own choice of operating system. [full story]

April 29 - 9:00am EDT   Intel has encountered a supply shortage that will prevent it from fulfilling more than half of the orders for its Atom mobile processors in the next month, according to a report in the Taiwan newspaper Apply Daily. Less than 40 percent of the semiconductor firm's requests are purportedly being met and, as a result, are expected to delay or hurt the rollouts of micro notebooks from a number of new entrants to the field, including from Acer and Dell. [full story]

April 11 - 12:45pm EDT   NVIDIA, addressing a meeting of financial analysts, has announced plans for a new CPU platform. Currently known only as "The World's Most Affordable Vista Premium PC," the platform would incorporate an integrated graphics processor from NVIDIA alongside one of VIA's upcoming Isaiah CPUs, in a design that would cost below $45. The chip is deliberately intended to compete with Intel, for whom NVIDIA has previously supplied hardware; the latter company claims that its platform is capable of 36 gigaflops, whereas a similarly-priced Intel 945/ICH4 combination is limited to 6.4. [full story]

April 8 - 12:10am EDT   Slightly ahead of a formal release, HP has revealed the Mini-Note, one of the few Western attempts at entering the field for micro notebooks. The previously leaked system aims to improve the formula started by the Eee PC by offering a genuinely comfortable keyboard: despite having just an 8.9-inch screen, the Mini-Note's keyboard is just 8 percent smaller than that of a full-sized notebook. The design is also more upscale than counterparts from ASUS or Everex and is built out of aluminum with a spill-resistant key layout. [full story]

February 21 - 1:05pm EST   HP's Compaq 2133 ultra-mobile PC may use non-Intel hardware to achieve an exceptionally low price, says an off-hand remark in an article comparing the devices. Although previous leaks have pointed to Intel's Silverthorne forming the backbone of the 8.9-inch miniature notebook, the report claims that at least one version will use a Via processor and sell for $499, putting the computer into the same price .league as the ASUS Eee PC and Everex CloudBook. This is most likely to involve Via's notebook-oriented C7-M processor and should be helped by the use of Linux instead of Windows as the stock operating system. [full story]

November 28 - 1:35pm EST   Translating its relative success with the original Zonbu Desktop to portables, Zonbu today unveiled the Zonbu Notebook. Like the original Linux system, the Everex-made 15.4-inch system is based primarily around a subscription for network storage and programs: 50GB of space not only backs up information stored on the local system but offers a continually updated software suite that never needs to be manually updated. Unlike the desktop, however, the portable includes a 60GB hard disk with enough space to store many files locally and comes with both a DVD burner and built-in Wi-Fi. [full story]