Hands-on with VIA's OpenBook prototype

VIA has today unveiled its OpenBook reference design and it is designed to compete in the subnotebook market space.


VIA's OpenBook form factor will be powerful enough to run Windows Vista and include a host of connectivity options including WiMAX, HSDPA and EV-DA, three USB 2.0 ports, VGA out, a 4-in-1 card reader and front and back 2 megapixel webcams.

Its power comes from a 1.6GHz VIA C7-M ULV CPU, VIA VX800 unified chipset, DDR2 SO-DIMM up to 2GB, 80GB HDD or above, VIA Chrome9 HC3 DX9 3D engine with shared system memory up to 256MB. It gets a 8.9" WVGA 1024 x 600 LED screen with MPEG-2, MPEG-4, VC1 and DivX video decoding acceleration.

The folks over at Engadget have an early hands-on with the reference sample posted here with plenty of photos and you can view the video they did of it just above.