Welcome to Part 3 of the Ultra Mobile Computing Buyers Guide. ‘Details and Choices’ continues today with a look into some options that will be as critical to the buyer as form factor or keyboard. The CPU and GPU options, battery and weight. We also take a look at the cost of an Ultra Mobile computer.

Buyers Guide posts:

• Introduction
• Part One: ‘What is Ultra Mobile Computing?’ We give you a history of Ultra Mobile computing, show you how the devices break down into segments and show you what each segment is capable of.
• Part Two: ‘Details and Choices.’  It covers the form factors, the keyboard, storage, the screen and connectivity elements of an Ultra Mobile PC. You’ll find a good overview and a lot of tips that will help you refine your choice.
• Part Three (below) continues the details about the components and covers CPU (including a detailed overview of the currently available solutions) GPU, memory, battery, weight and cost.
• Part Four: ‘Additional Information and further reading.’ In this section we cover some of the less commonly found features on Ultra Mobile computers and give you information and links to further reading resources.

Read on …

Part 3. Details and choices (continued)

Processor (CPU)

There are a number of CPU’s that are being used in ultra mobile devices and each has its own advantages and disadvantages. CPUs range in capability from the simple low-power devices found in smartphones, through to powerful dual-core options that are found in laptops. Your CPU requirement depends on what you expect to do with the device. Below is an explanation of the current CPU options followed by a summary. (Updated from the article originally published in Jan 2008.)

Intel

With the old Pentium-M and Celeron M now gone from the production lines, the Intel Atom processor range lives on as the low-cost Ghz-class processor option. Intel have different ranges of the Atom processor but the two most likely to be found in UMPCs are the Atom Diamondville and Silverthorne processors. Diamondville is a low-cost, low-power processor normally found in single-core, 1.6 Ghz hyperthreading-capable versions. Processing power is roughly equivalent to the old Pentium-M at 1Ghz and it is capable of running common Windows XP and Linux applications at speeds acceptable to most people. In fact, coupled with a fast disk drive, the performance can be impressive and even good enough for Windows Vista. The Diamondville processor is found in most current Intel-based ‘netbooks.’

The other Atom processor found in UMPCs is the Silverthorne CPU. Based on the same core architecture as Diamondville, it is focused at very small-size and low power operation and comes in variants without hyperthreading (800Mhz, 1.1Ghz) and with hyperthreading all the way up to 1.8Ghz. Silverthorne is paired with a specific chipset known as Poulsbo (or SCH) which contains a new GPU and video decoding hardware (see below.)

Some older UMPCs are still being sold with the Intel ‘McCaslin’ platform which comprises a slightly modified Pentium-style CPU at 800Mhz. This has already been phased out but is capable of decent performance and efficiency in some well-engineered UMPCs. Intel’s A110 (800Mhz) and A100 (600Mhz) are the labels to look out for here.

Intel don’t have a high-end platform for UMPCs but we are seeing some high-end engineering that is enabling laptop processors to be squeezed into UMPC form factors. Sony have always used the laptop processors in their UX range and currently offer a Core 2 Solo processor with GMA950 GPU. Samsung also use a Core processor, the Core Solo at 1.3Ghz, in their Q1 Ultra Premium. It should be no suprise that devices using these processors tend to be expensive.

VIA.

VIA continue to offer their C7M ULV processor and VX700/VX800 integrated GPU/chipset but have made two announcements about  products that will extend their range and confirm their focus in the low-power and mobile computing market. Firstly and presumably as a spin-off of their dead ‘John’ Core-Fusion project, they have developed a single board computer using a small-die C7 ULV processor and VX700 chipset. The board is known as Mobile-ITX and is planned for launch at some point during 2009 (delayed from 2008). Mobile-ITX focuses on providing a standard motherboard a very small size that will enable designers to skip the board design stage and thus save time and money. The complete board covers about the same area as a credit card and has the potential to enable Ghz-class x86 computing in smartphone form factors. No details are available at the moment so this is simply one to watch for 2009.

More importantly, VIA have announced a brand new architecture known as Isaiah that will be used in a new CPU range known as Nano. This architecture, developed by their daughter company Centaur, is said to provide 2-4 times the processing power of the C7-M, with advanced sleep and thermal modes in a pin-compatible CPU module in the same power envelope as the C7-M. In addition, VIA have announced a VX800 integrated chipset that incorporates the VN896 DX-9 capable GPU. Unfortunately for UMPC fans, the ‘CN’ CPU looks like it will initially target notebook, thin, and green computing devices with part availability planned for end of Q2 and devices available at the end of 2008. It must also be noted that the standard C7 range continues so some repositioning can be expected in the coming years. The C7-M will probably drop in price and become the budget CPU that can be coupled with the VX700 or, hopefully, the VX800 depending on the graphics requirements. The ‘Nano’ is likely to become the premium part and could enable gaming UMPCs, desktop replacement UMPCs and even low-end video processing UMPCs. Currently though, VIA are in an in-between stage with the C7-M not really being able to compete with the Atom Diamondville CPU.

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