Conclusions
True to their billings, the Atom 230 and Nano L2100 showed themselves to be very different animals through the course of our testing. The Atom 230 combines admirably low peak power draw with largely adequate performance for basic productivity tasks, although it's a little plodding when asked to handle more CPU-intensive chores like photo editing. The Nano L2100, meanwhile, breaks new performance ground in this class of processor—a very welcome development that should make the more ambitious forms of low-cost computing tolerable. Those gains do come at the expense of about 20W higher power draw under load than the Atom.

Thus, the Atom 230's biggest advantage might be its ability to slip into smaller, thinner enclosures than the Nano L2100. Given that our Nano-based test system only pulled 63.6W peak at the wall socket, the additional power draw should be of little concern for the low-cost desktop PCs at which both of these products are targeted. As a result, the L2100's superior performance wins the day: the Nano is simply better suited for low-cost desktops.

That verdict is accentuated by the possibility that PC makers could offer Nano-based systems with discrete GPUs and decent expandability options. I have to admit, I haven't yet plugged a graphics card into the EPIA SN's PCIe x16 slot and tried gaming with the Nano, but I'm intrigued by the prospect of an Econobox-style system with prices in the sub-$400 range that's actually powerful enough to play the latest games.

My enthusiasm for such possibilities, though, is tempered by some cold realities: although the C7 and its forebears have been around for years, products based on Via CPUs have been hard to come by in North America. We've seen the occasional success, like the C7-based HP 2133 Mini-Note, but those are the exception rather than the rule. We've not even heard any rumblings of a Nano-based Mini-Note from HP, in spite of the fact that it would require only a CPU swap. The EPIA SN board we tested here is selling at a few places online now (with a C7 processor onboard), but it costs around 300 bucks, because it's a niche product intended for embedded systems. Meanwhile, this Atom motherboard is selling today for $69 (Did I mention that? 69 bucks!), and Atom CPUs are already populating Asus' lineup of Eee PC netbooks and cheap desktops. Via has to win more of these product battles in order to be relevant. The Nano seems up to the task, if it gets a chance.