VIA Merges Netbook, Notebook

News
By published

It's a ntebook and notebook mashed up into one multimedia device.

Looking for a notebook but not in the mood to lug it around? Do netbooks look rather appealing but just don't have enough meat to chew on? VIA may have found a solution for the consumer looking for the in-between product, the missing link in the evolution from netbook to laptop. Called the NetNote, the device combines netbook portability with notebook HD entertainment capabilities, and is expected to hit the market later this month.

VIA's two Surfboard models--the VIA VT6552 and VIA VT6549--are the first on this platform, providing 10.2-inch and 12.1-inch screens, both supposedly providing flawless video playback of high bit-rate 1080p HD video. On a whole the platform features the VIA VX855 media system processor, and also provides consumers a choice of VIA C7-M ULV or VIA Nano processors, both utilizing a 800 MHz FSB.

On the graphics front, the new NetNote platform uses VIA's Chrome9 HCM integrated graphics processor, offering support for H.264, MPEG2, MPEG-4, WMV9, and VC1 decoding acceleration. The system specs say that the built-in display supports up to 1366 x 768 pixel, whereas external displays will offer up to 1920 x 1440 pixels. For consumers wanting a portable media player but not the bulk of a laptop, these two NetNote Surfboard systems may be the ticket.

"NetNotes are illustrative of the type of device that is possible after artificial restrictions on screen size, resolution and connectivity are removed," said Richard Brown, Vice President of Marketing, VIA Technologies, Inc. "Light, snappy ultra mobile devices with notebook-level functionality are what consumers want and what the NetNote category of device provides."

Kevin Parrish

Kevin started taking PCs apart in the 90s when Quake was on the way and his PC lacked the required components. Since then, he’s loved all things PC-related and cool gadgets ranging from the New Nintendo 3DS to Android tablets. He is currently a contributor at Digital Trends, writing about everything from computers to how-to content on Windows and Macs to reviews of the latest laptops from HP, Dell, Lenovo, and more. 

14 Comments Comment from the forums
  • burnley14
    If it has netbook-like battery life, I'm interested
    Reply
  • cadder
    Flawless HD playback? Don't we already have small notebooks that do that? Are they intending for these new machines to be inexpensive? Otherwise we would just buy full blown notebooks. But if you want one of these to play back HD video, where are you going to put the disk in, since they don't contain players? Are you going to rely on streaming HD over the net? Good luck with that.
    Reply
  • doomtomb
    About time we see this.
    Reply
  • Shadow703793
    ntebook
    :lol: Didn't know they had a ntebook. AFAIK it's a Netbook. Spell check.
    Reply
  • Via must probably mean Linux OS, or does the latest Windows 7 supports via CPU chips?
    Reply
  • megamanx00
    ProDigit80Via must probably mean Linux OS, or does the latest Windows 7 supports via CPU chips?
    VIA chips are x86 chips. They should run Win 7, though I don't know about the drivers for the rest of the system :D. Anyway VIA is a bit behind in finding its niche between netbook and notebook. Some of the earlier netbooks were powered by VIA CPUs by the way.
    Reply
  • WheelsOfConfusion
    So basically, they're netbooks. Chrome 9 graphics are not really game-able and the only thing these should do well is play media.
    Reply
  • False_Dmitry_II
    It'd be great if there were some other companies that could get into the bigtime with CPUs or GPUs. It seems silly to be stuck with either intel or AMD and either nVidia or ATI. At least AMD is sticking around.

    And yeah, I know that for CPU's the x86 stuff is limited to the companies that got the rights to make them at about the same time AMD did. I would think if a new player wanted to get involved they could buy one of the smaller companies that still has those rights.
    Reply
  • apache_lives
    the ion platform beat you to it VIA and also does it alot better
    Reply
  • tiga2001
    Why does VIA still make C7-M processors, do they have excess inventory or something? Besides that, competition is always welcome. Hopefully, these new "netnotes" use newer and faster Via Nano processors that can compete with Intel ULV, otherwise, I don't see any manufacturer picking their chips over Intel.
    Reply