VIA eNote Turnkey Solution Ultra-Portable Notebook PC

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The latest mantra when it comes to take-along technology is “thin is in” and it seems that consumers simply can’t get enough. We are constantly pushing manufacturers to make things smaller and lighter without sacrificing performance and connectivity. In a move to offer consumers even more choice when it comes to their portable wireless computers, Taiwan-based VIA has decided to unveil their latest ultra-portable notebook at this year’s 4G World scheduled to be held in Chicago starting on September 15. The VIA eNote Turnkey Solution is their latest slim, lightweight laptop computer and at a svelte 11.6-in and 1.3-kg it appears to have all the right stuff.

The VIA eNote Turnkey Solution is being touted as the perfect combination of the netbook and the notebook. It features a Sequans Communications Mobile WiMAX chip that sports the proprietary Sequans mimoMAX technology. It’s this technology that combines a maximum likelihood decoder on the downlink with two transmitters (2Tx) on the uplink. It also gives users the choice of two internal modules to handle the job. The first one features WiFi, Bluetooth, and optional AGPS connections and the second one provides WiMAX, HSDPA, and EV-DO/W-CDMA.

The CPU and graphics power plants of VIA’s latest introduction are the 1.3GHz VIA Nano processor and the VIA VX800 digital media IGP chipset respectively. The eNote provides support for WXGA screen resolutions and VIA Chrome9 DirectX 9.0 3D graphics as well as video acceleration for MPEG-2, MPEG-4, WMV9, VC1 and DiVX video formats. VMR capable HD video processor and 8-channel HD audio complete the multi-media package.

The VIA eNote Turnkey Solution has three USB 2.0 ports, a VGA port, audio-in/audio-out jacks as well as a 4-in-1 card reader (SD/SDIO/MMC/MS) and integrated 2MP dual-headed web camera. As for OS compatibility, the VIA eNote works with Microsoft Windows Vista Basic, Microsoft Windows XP, and various Linux distributions. You can get the machine with up to 2GB DDR2 DRAM and it can be equipped with a several choices of HDDs and solid state storage devices. Being a portable unit, battery life is definitely a concern for most users as well. The VIA eNote comes standard with a 4-cell 2600mA lithium-ion battery that is said to deliver up to three hours of battery life on a single charge. Given the units small size, this isn’t all too impressive, but it should prove adequate for most typical applications in its target market.

Overall, it looks like VIA has managed to give users the best of both worlds in the eNote. It has a great set of features and doesn’t seem to sacrifice performance for portability. No word yet on pricing or roll-out schedule, but sources are saying that it may be VIA’s intent to market the eNote to carriers rather than directly to consumers.