VIA has now revealed its latest low-power processor line based on the Isaiah architecture, the Nano 3000 series. Targeting thin and light notebooks and all-in-one desktop PCs, the Nano 3000 single-core 64-bit CPUs go from 1 to 2GHz, have a FSB of 800 MHz, have added support for the SSE4 multimedia instruction set and VIA VT virtualization technology, and are claimed to deliver up to 20% higher performance using up to 20% less power than current VIA Nano models.

"With the VIA Nano 3000 Series, we are launching our fastest and most power-efficient processors yet," commented Richard Brown, VP International Marketing, VIA Technologies. "Coupled with our market-leading digital media chipsets, they enable the richest experience across a broad range of mobile and all-in-one system designs."

The new Nanos also boast the VIA PadLock Security Engine, are compatible with Windows and Linux operating systems, and make use of a NanoBGA2 package which means they are pin-compatible with Nano 1000, 2000 Series, C7, C7-M and Eden processors.

The Nano 3000 CPUs are currently being sampled to OEMs and board vendors and are scheduled to enter mass production in Q1 2010. Hopefully these chips will be adopted by more manufacturers so we'll be able to see some tough battles in the low-power markets. Atom beware?