VIA Technologies hasn’t made a big splash in the x86 chip space in a while, and the company’s pretty much a bit player in the space these days as it hangs out in the shadows of AMD and Intel. But VIA has been cranking out low-power ARM-based chips for the past few years and new reports indicate VIA plans to give low-power x86 chips another try.
In late August or early September, the company could introduced its Isaiah II processor, a low-power quad-core chip that could end up in Windows tablets, notebooks, or desktops.
To give you an idea of how long it’s been since VIA introduced a new x86 chip, the new processor is called the Isaiah II — and the original Isaiah was unveiled in 2008 (before it was renamed “Nano“).
That’s the same year the first Intel Atom processors hit the streets. Intel’s launched several generations of new Atom chips since then, while VIA has largely stayed out of the spotlight.
Early reports suggest that the new Isaiah II chip will offer competitive performance with an Intel Atom Bay Trail or AMD Kabin processor — although it remains to be seen how the chip will perform in real-world conditions and whether it will sip energy slowly enough to support devices with long battery life.
VIA doesn’t just see the Isaiah II chip as a processor for notebooks and tablets though. It could also be used in kiosks, digital signage, and other commercial applications.
via TechPowerUp
I ran an Artigo A1000 system for about two years. It was an excellent low-power HTPC box. They haven’t done much to wow me since then but this could change that. Going to be hard to compete with Bay Trail.
The last time Via did something that wowed me, was when they built the CPU in the OQO model 2
Shouldn’t that be “unveiled in 2008” ?
Whoops, thanks for pointing that out!