A while back we got excited about Via processors and their odd ability to somehow be efficient, cheap and completely unknown. In fact, until today, I couldn't have told you where to buy a machine that had a Via chip. But still, we were excited, because efficient processors are good, and someone big was certainly going to pick up one of these little gems. 

Well someone did. The custodian of capitalism, the chieftan of cheap, Wal-Mart, is stocking its shelves with Everex laptops with 1.5 ghz Via C7-M processors that have a higher performance per watt than any other chip on the market. On average, the chip draws less than 1 watt, and at peak use, it only draws 12 watts.

 

The machine manages to be so cheap in part because it is not cutting-edge, but also because it's battery is quite lame. But the low power consumption means that the piddly battery will still give you a pretty good operation time, and almost certainly won't explode on your lap. The Via version of the Everex's StepNote that will be on sale at Wal-Mart gives you pretty much a standard 15 inch, 5 lb laptop. But the DVD burner and built-in wireless are nice perks for a $500 machine.

 

We're excited that Wal-Mart cares about efficiency, but you don't have to make the trip to get one. They're available at Everex's online store for the same price.

 

Via TreeHugger