Hong Kong dealer offers MacBook-like netbook with VIA Nano CPU

A Hong Kong company is promoting a new mini-laptop with a 1.3GHz VIA Nano CPU, the new VIA VX855 chipset, a 10.1 inch, 1024 x 576 pixel display, and a choice of a hard drive or SSD. Nothing too new there. But here’s the kicker: The product page is filled with images making it look like this is an Apple product. And it’s quite clearly not.

First, there appears to be an Apple logo on the lid of the computer. And the images show an Apple logo over an OS X-like wallpaper on the computer display. But the netbook is not available with OS X preloaded. It ships with Windows XP Home or Ubuntu 8.04 Linux. Of course, it’s quite probably that you could load OS X yourself much the way you can with other netbooks. But that VIA processor will probably complicate things a bit. Most hackintosh computers use Intel processors, much like the current line of Apple laptop and desktop computers. But at least a few people have managed to get OS X running on machines with VIA’s earlier x86 processors.

Anyway, if this company were based in the US, I’d say they were still in store for a legal smackdown from Apple. Since they’re based in Hong Kong, who knows? But I wouldn’t expect to pick up this MacBook Mini clone in the US or Europe anytime soon.

Update: A VIA rep says he’s never heard anything about this company — and that this product seems a bit fishy considering it’s supposed to use the 855 chipset which was just announced.

via Netbook News.de