by CIO Staff

Via Goes ‘Pret-a-Porter’ With Vogue PCs

News
Jun 07, 20062 mins
Consumer Electronics

Via Technologies is going “pret-a-porter” with Vogue, its latest reference design for PC makers, announced Wednesday at the Computex exhibition in Taipei.

At the heart of the design is the Vogue Body Module, a computer that users can dress up with different cases, choosing one that best fits their tastes and lifestyle, said Richard Brown, Via’s vice president of marketing. The aim is to give users a “wardrobe” of cases that can be swapped or updated when the mood strikes, he said.

To demonstrate, Via has developed several cases for the Vogue Body Module. These outfits are called Classic, Pure, Xtreme and Vogue, and cater to a range of tastes. Vendors can design outfits in different styles and materials including leather, wood or rubber, Brown said.

Via’s QuickSlip technology allows users to change their PCs’ outfit quickly and easily, according to the company.

Via Vogue PCs
Via Vogue PCs

Underneath the outfits, the Vogue Body Module contains a Via C7 processor, running at a clock speed from 1.2GHz to 2GHz; up to 1GB of memory, and a hard-disk drive with a capacity up to 80GB. The entire setup is compatible with Vista, the next version of Microsoft’s Windows operating system, due to ship next year.

Via, which makes its money selling the processors and other components inside the Vogue design, will not produce the PC on its own. Instead, the company plans to work with manufacturers and channel partners to bring the design to market. The ultimate goal? To produce a system that will cost less than US$600, Brown said.

Computex runs through Saturday.

-Sumner Lemon, IDG News Service

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