Taiwanese manufacturers of small form-factor PCs have re-iterated Intel's scheme to pitch 'Santa Rosa', the next version of the chip maker's Centrino platform, as the basis for future compact desktop and living room PCs.

According to a DigiTimes report, Intel has of late been pushing Santa Rosa's suitability for SFF PCs. Certainly, leaked Intel presentation slides have claimed Santa Rosa will "enable form-factor innovation" in the desktop PC market, as we reported back in April.

According to Intel's slides, Santa Rosa will deliver better acoustics and enable thinner form-factors. The slides don't say so, but it's very likely that Santa Rosa technology will become part of future incarnations of Intel's Viiv platform.

All of which is music to AOpen's ears. The company last week began promoting its Mobile on DeskTop (MoDT) concept, an idea it's been talking about for some time and which lay behind the development of its Mac Mini-like Mini PC. A new version of the system, the MP945-VX, is due to ship next week.

AOpen's MP945-VX mini PC

AOpen has launched a website to promote the MoDT concept. ®