Via CPU, NV IGP+HDMI+HDCP + MCP(ish) things aught to make Intel a very scared little kitten. 
It seems Intel's bullying and outright b*****dish scare tactics have finaly pushed the industry away. About bloody time too...

Via has been working on the SFF market for years and has pushed a huge majority of it's considderable muscle into making it a work of art, Yes fair enough we've never seen a via cpu that could compare to the pure brawn of the Core 2 range... but bang for watt, Via has dffinately a competetive edge. 
Nvidia's grapics and core logic sollutions are probably going to be the best friend for Via's gear in the comming future and especialy in the media PC and micro notebook markets which are expanding at a rapid rate of knotts.

This is going to be fun to watch


Compact flash to IDE PATA.

on most VIA boards, they provide power threw the IDE port to power these adapters so the adapter doesn't need external power.

A lot of embeded systems use these adapters. And some of these adapters are direct insert into the PATA port not needing an IDE cable.

CF has a build in IDE interface.

it seemed odd so i checked:
the MB got: "2 SATA's and 1 IDE"

from the :"Nettop Platform for 2008
System Design White Paper"
at 
http://download.intel.com/design/processor/applnots/319980.pdf
see for yourself.


I think the pata is used for compacted flash cards, to replace the main hd with a cheap solid state drive using an adapter

Don't forget Mini ITX's embedded heritage, they've probably kept it for PATA-to-Compact Flash adapters and the like

" They insist on PATA? Why?"

Well, for one thing, it gives us somewhere to put there brilliant little things:

http://www.logicsupply.com/products/fdm40xdi4g

OK, they're a little pricey, but there's definitely something to be said for a decent amount of storage that effectively has zero physical footprint in the system.

Still, I wouldn't touch another Via anything with a bargepole. Their support is laughable, and with the range of boards I've tried so far, there seems to be about a 50% chance that everything will just work. With Intel's LIttle Valley Mini-ITX boards, that figure has been 100% so far.

Little Lake, with its Atom and 945 chipset, won't set any speed records, but should cut power consumption quite nicely, and above all, should be reliable.

Yes, it is about time to drop those legacy PATA and PS/2 ports. I know one of the vendors tried it several years ago, and it didn't take off, but honestly, does anyone think that keeping those legacy ports around is required? My most recent build, I was amazed that I couldn't find a MB without 'em, even in the micro ATX form factor.

PATA interface is very very widespread, lots of components use it (compact flash drives for example), which makes great sense to include it.

Its a timeless interface, and for the same reason most fullsize motherboards still include an RS232 interface.

"Given that Via is a ... lot cheaper"

I love Via and it's products dearly but, pray, what world is this in ?

"It was like a White House Intelligence briefing without the need to take a long shower afterwards."

That was the most beautiful/accuarte description that I've read in a long time. Kudos to the author, and kudos to Via for offering a great/affordable product. 

They insist on PATA? Why? Someone should ask them that already, let's get that info out.
Mind you it makes more sense to support PATA on a mini that you can't expand with add-on cards than on full-size, especially high end motherboards meant for enthusiasts, I mean if you can afford 3 PCIe graphics cards one can assume you don't need support for old DVD drives from yesteryears, or even a PS/2 connectors for mice, for which they don't even sell mice anymore I don't think.
Perhaps the idea is that you slam together a mini with old parts?