Very convenient and handy, if its cheap

I've always been a VIA fanboy - I can't explain it, except that they keep showing off interesting things. However, I'm always disappointed by their time-to-market. Let's hope those tiny components make it into the channel soon!!

I agree that the only thing that is impressive in the pics is the TR biz card ;). As for the smallness of the mobo and proc, impressive. The rest of the mini laptop I think is not only ugly, but a waste of 600 bucks. I personally would rather load up on a cheapo laptop that has a full 17" or 14"ish screen, better processor and probably the same ram. If the price of their little system was sub 400 it would be worth mentioning.

Not sure what others think about having things out of the side of their view, but I would go crazy having the cheap little LED display on the side... why even do that? Just add more screen room and make it display in the OS.

Seems to me that VIA has been drinking too much of that crappy Taiwanese beer and figured in order to see the numbers, they had to add a separate display for it.

Yes, yes, yes...

Tiny PCs please. At at time when most manufacturers feel the need to add about 2 lbs of copper per mobo, this comes as a welcome relief.

But how do I know how big a business card is without a US quarter?

I love the price, but I agree with the general consensus that just a little more screen would be very nice...

You can get a full feature laptop for $400. What is RAM and storage options? I think they will need DVD capability and get below $200 before this takes off.

WOW .... Just WOW... Impressed with VIA :)

Equally as impressive is the coolness that is TR's business card. Request new product for the TR Store: TR member card.

I like the price already; $600 is a very attractive price for an ultra-portable. What's with that digital clock next the screen though? =?

I suspect they didn't go for a larger screen because they could get the one they're using very cheap. So they made a silk purse out of a sow's ear by inventing the interchangable USB components that can fit into that spot to the right of the screen. It's a nice idea in a way -- a GPS unit would be cool, for example -- but of course it's a completely unique form factor so the components will be rare and costly. VIA probably would've been better off going with an expresscard slot (or similar) in that space and not bothering with the display. (Though maybe that's one of the components)

Still, at the right price it would make a nice mobile adjunct for a desktop user who doesn't need a full laptop.

I wonder why they didn't go for 1024x400 and remove the stuff on the right of the screen. Existing regular notebooks with much larger screens are cheaper. There is no DVD player (I guess would be external over USB).
The component costs for that system should be quite small once it is out in quantity.
With a drop of the price to $399 (with Linux) for rev 2 of this (e.g. with 65nm), this could be a great seller!

Now if VIA can just 65nm-ise the CPU and chipset, integrate them onto the same die, or at least the same package, we could have mini-mobile-itx.

I still think that this would create a rather bulky smart phone however, but VIA are leading the charge to phone-ise x86.

I like those business cards.

Nice platform that has a lot of potential in various areas like a automobile PC etc.

What do I see in that pic? Some cans of crappy beer!

Man I can just think of all the fun projects that could be used for.