Toradex has introduced a tiny computer with an embedded Intel Atom E6xx chip called the xiilum. It’s based on the company’s latest Topaz.  The aluminum die-cast housing is just 6 x 8.9 x 1.6 cm. x86 single board computer (SBC) featuring the Atom chip and Intel EG20T chipset. Toradex says the xilium is the world’s smallest Atom E6xx PC.

The TDP of the E6xx should range from 2.7 Watts for the 600MHz versions to 3.9 Watts for the 1.6GHz E680 and E680T, making this a very low power device.  That allows for a fan-less design while still providing the functionality of a x86 PC.

The Topaz SBC itself is just 55 x 84 x 12.7 mm in size, and include 4 USB2.0 ports, a bootable microSD Card Slot, and a DVI-D output on a HDMI connector.  The total package is roughly the same size as a small powered USB hub, but the computer offers the kind of power you’d get from a traditional Nettop range PC.

The only down side is that you’ll need to use a USB port to add any peripherals for WiFi, LAN, 3G, Bluetooth, or audio. That means the compact size won’t be so compact after fully equipping the system, but overall the system should remain pretty compact and flexible.  While not everyone will need to connect every possible device to the system, or at least not all at once all the time as a matter of practicality.

The Intel Atom Processor E6xx Series (up to 1.6GHz) with Intel Platform Controller Hub EG20T, also integrates the Intel Graphical Media Accelerator GMA600, which features a top clock speed of 400 MHz, which is twice as fast as Intel’s older GMA 500 graphics platform. The integrated video decoder is able to accelerate MPEG-2, VC-1, MPEG-4, h.264, and AVC HD videos.

The platform can support video hardware acceleration that can be taken advantage of for HD video (up to 1920×1080).  Whether the driver support will be better than the GMA 500 remains to be seen but the specs and early Intel demonstrations look promising.

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4 replies on “Toradex’s xiilun claims to be world’s smallest Atom E6xx PC”

  1. I know we like to pretend that crappy consumer products are awesome and worthy of all kinds of hype, chatter, and lust , but in terms of actual technology and sector impact the Atom E6xx is the most important piece of technology of the year. Everybody things that ARM is the the fancy new upstart, but ARM’s bread and butter is in the embedded market, not handheld computing. The Atom E6xx is Intel first step into that territory, and it stomps just about every advantage that ARM has. This is a scary time for people who have a stake in ARM technologies.

    1. ARM is everywhere, ARM has already won. See my video of the $150 Toradex running Tegra2: https://armdevices.net/2011/03/04/toradex-shows-tegra2-computer-on-so-dimm-form-factor/ it’s basically an x86 desktop replacement. Intel is dead.

      See also my Seco x86-ARM cross platform system: https://armdevices.net/2011/03/04/seco-x86-arm-cross-platform/

      This basically means people can just as well take ARM solution to replace x86, for all kinds of PC/laptop use and even server use. That means intel is dead. Cause it really doesn’t matter if intel thinks it can still make “better” processors, the ARM ecosystem can deliver much better value in terms of features/performance per dollar, and to remain competitive, Intel will have to completely auto-disrupt their own unreasonably large profit-margins business model. Intel fears having to compete in the $1-per-processor market, but they will be force to if they don’t want to loose all of their market share. And ultimately, intel will be forced to become an ARM licencee (again) and compete like everyone else.

      1. Intel isn’t dead. Otherwise they would not be making huge profits like you said.

        And ARM isn’t dead either. Seems like people can’t stomach the fact that both x86 and ARM are alive and well. It’s as if there is no room in the world for both ARM and Intel whereas this is mostly definitely not the case.

        1. I agree, Charbax may have some points but is going to premature extremes in his conclusions.

          Both ARM and x86 are still competitive and is why companies like SECO have developed cross platform support using the Q7 standard embedded interface.

          So companies can choose whether they want an ARM or x86 solution without having to change the entire system each time.

          Though ARM does have advantages in the embedded and mobile markets and when MS comes out with ARM compatible Windows 8 means there is less reason to use x86 solutions aside from legacy support and higher end performance requirements.

          So it doesn’t look good for x86 in the long term in the embedded and mobile markets but it’ll still be awhile before we can start calling them dead and both Intel and AMD are starting to get serious about providing solutions for these markets and between them we have yet to see what they will come up with to judge yet… And ARM may run into roadblocks of their own that may change the present trends.

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