You may be wondering why every netbook we write about seems to have the same Intel Atom processor. Some of it has to do with Intel's prominence in the entire processor market at the moment (which makes competition from Via little contest), and some of it has to do with AMD not stepping up to duke it out in the tiny laptop arena. AMD simply has no interest in the mini-laptop market, and CEO Dirk Meyer makes it abundantly clear:

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Via's Nano and Intel's Atom low-power processors are intended for slightly different purposes, but that didn't stop HardOCP pitting them against each other in performance tests, and coming up with some interesting results. In every single benchmark, the beefier Nano beat the Atom. In particular it was 59% better in MP3 encoding tests, 37% in Divx encoding and achieved double the frame rate in Quake 4. No surprises there: the Nano is designed to draw a little more current (53W against 45W) than the Atom, so it won't make it into quite the same hand-held gizmos as Intel's chip. But the tests revealed that under normal "desktop" usage, the Nano actually drew less power when idling. Looks like Via's got a hot one in its grip: we might expect to see more of this chip. [HardOCP via BBG]

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Nvidia has been pretty tight with Via, the scrappy maker of low-power chips for tiny laptops and mobile internet devices, to the point of sparking rumours Nvidia wanted to buy 'em. But Taiwanese rag Digitimes says their buddy-buddy relationship is just leverage for Nvidia to muscle its way into Intel's Atom platform.

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The mini-notebook market is heating up, with today bringing stats and shots of the Asus's latest Eee PC with it's tiny screen and keys that might work with normal hands. Then later, we get news of a leak about Everex, Asus's competitor in this market, about its next Cloudbooks, including one with a 10.2-inch screen and 3G connectivity, and another with an 8.9-inch screen and WiMAX.

No definite word on if they'll be using Intel's Atom processors or competitors from Via, or if they'll be XP or Linux machines, but the makers of the reference design, FIC, would confirm a screen resolution on the 10.2-inch model at 1024x600. It will also feature a 1.3-Megapixel camera, 2GB RAM, card reader, dual USB 2.0, and an express card slot.

Less details are known of the 8.9-inch model, though the specs should be similar, including resolution. The devices might be subsidized by 3G carriers like AT&T or Sprint -- if they ever hit the US shores, which there's no promise of.

We liked the Cloudbooks we've seen so far, and we can't wait to see if a slightly larger model will actually be usable for those of us with big, bear-like hands. [PC Advisor, via Slashgear]

In my mind, AMD and VIA comments can be summed up as, "No shit." [NYTimes]

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VIA's new two point oh Mini-ITX design is out, and it comes loaded with multimedia features, from high definition video and Blu-ray disc playback to DirectX 10 support, 6-channel surround sound, and a 16-lane PCI Express—so you can add a top-of-the-line graphics card that is five times the size of the 17 x 17cm Mini-ITX 2.0. The full feature list is exciting for home theatre and DIY enthusiasts everywhere:

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If your head's spinning from the buckets of chip splooge that's shot out over the past couple days, we don't blame you. There's been a new mobile chip launched or announced by every major player in the biz (Intel, AMD, Nvidia and Via), so no wonder it's all sticky and running together. Don't worry, here's a quick guide to what matters, who makes it, and what kind of stuff you'll see it in.

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According to Quanta Computer—who will be the manufacturer—Sony will join the low-end ultra-mobile PC bandwagon with a notebook based on the VIA OpenBook reference design. As shown in the image, Sony's machine will use a 1.6GHz C7-M VIA processor, and while at this point it looks quite generic, it will be interesting to see if Sony—which is already known for its ultra-sleek sub-notebooks—would tweak the final design and technical specs.

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Via's next-gen Isaiah processors that they're hoping will break them into the mainstream market just got all official, going by the more consumer-friendly Nano moniker. When we talked with Via about them last week, they said that Isaiah-based processors will deliver 4x the performance of their current C7 chips (which power the OQO and Cloudbook) at the same power envelope. The press release touts the chips' ability to playback Blu-ray and run Crysis—that might be true, but we have the feeling you won't exactly want to in the latter case. Available to manufacturers now, you should start seeing Nano-powered wares in the fall. The low-power-but-decent-performance chip space is definitely getting a mite crowded.

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The SF Chronicle has an feature on VIA, outlining the low-cost, low-power CPU company's fight against the upcoming Intel Atom. Did you know that the person in charge of VIA, Cher Wong, is also in charge of HTC? [SFGate]