Origami ultra mobile PCs could hit shops at £350

Tablets from Taiwan use Microsoft-endorsed low-drain Via chip to slash costs

Clive Akass, Personal Computer World 13 Mar 2006

Ultra-mobile PCs (UMPC) based on Microsoft’s Origami specification could sell for less than $600 (£350 approx), according to chip designer Via.

Even allowing for pre-launch posturing on prices, this would put the sub-1kg machines, which have full tablet PC functionality, in direct competition with PDAs and smartphones – and far cheaper than most notebooks.

Via is pushing UMPCs using its processors rather than those from Intel. Its C7-M ULV (ultra low voltage) processor is being used in several Taiwanese implementations of Microsoft’s Origami concept design, on show at Cebit.

It is a descendant of the Centaur x86 chip which was bought out by Via, which retained the design team in the US.

Keith Kowal, marketing manager of Via’s chipset platform group, said the 1GHz C7-M ULV drains a maximum 3.5watts – this is the Thermal Design Point (TDP), the flat-out power drain with which the system must able to cope.

The 1.5GHz version has a TDP of 5watts, the same as that for Intel’s mini-tablet offerings.

Kowal claimed that the C7-M ULV would outlast Intel’s low-drain Celerons on battery life because the latter cannot match its power saving features (some Intel-based Origamis use Pentium-M processors).

'Via is one only of only two manufacturers to have processors approved by Microsoft for Origami,' he said.

Kowal claimed the C7-M would enable system prices of $600 'or even less'.

Taiwanese vendors at Cebit cited prices between $600 and $1,000 for their machines, but as most of their products will be rebranded and sold on they have no direct control of street prices.

There are new pictures of many of the UMPCs on our Test Bed blog.

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