While VIA is world famous as a chipset designer, its intentions to produce central processing units for certain markets have a relatively long history. In the light of the fact that the market of x86-compatible microprocessors is almost monopolized by two companies ?AMD and Intel Corp. ?these attempts deserve respect. PCStats.com web-site has decided to take a closer look at VIA's latest achievement ?the C7-M microprocessor.

This CPU is made with a 90nm IBM SOI (Silicon-On-Insulator) fabricating process with a die size of 30mm square NanoBGA2 package. The VIA C7-M processor uses a 16-unit execution pipeline, features a large L1 cache of 128KB and 128KB L2 cache, and is designed to operate on frequencies starting from 1.50GHz up to 2.00GHz with TDP from 16W to 20W.

The main features of the VIA C7-M microprocessor are PadLock co-processor and PowerSaver technology. The PadLock is a security co-processor, which is dedicated to encryption tasks, while PowerSaver technology dynamically reduces frequency and voltage.

“The VIA C7-M's tiny size and thermal capabilities will definitely help it's chances in the laptop market, though the lack of PCI Express support in VIA's chipset lineup will not. As things appear now, look for VIA C7-M CPUs to appear in ultra-portable and budget laptops near you before the end of the year. As we said earlier in the article, Transmeta's demise has left a hole in the laptop market which VIA seems well-positioned to fill,?concludes PCStats.com.

• PCStats.com: VIA C7-M Processor Preview.