Both the Intel Atom and VIA Nano processor have a bit more competition today thanks to the introduction of the new NVIDIA Tegra family of processors. The Tegra is billed as a single-chip computer or system-on-chip (SoC) solution for applications such as the Mobile Internet Device (MID). With the Tegra, you get all the functions typically spread across a CPU and supporting chipset combined into a single die.

The new processor family is actually headlined by a processor that was introduced earlier in the year called the APX 2500 which was targeted for smartphones and hadnset devices. The new addition announced today is the NVIDIA Tegra 650 processor which is targeting the MID and portable device space. Inside the 650 you actually get multiple processors designed for specific tasks.

The core to the Tegra 650 is an 800 MHz ARM processor. Surrounding this processor are additional processors for HD video, imaging, audio, and graphics. According to NVIDIA, the Tegra 650 achieves up to 10 times the power efficiency of existing products in battery operated computer systems.

Features of the Tecra 650 include the following:

• All-day media processing, for 130 hours audio, 30 hours HD video playback
• HD image processing for advanced digital still camera and HD camcorder functions
• Optimized hardware support for Web 2.0 applications for a true desktop-class internet experience
• Display support for 1080p HDMI, WSXGA+ LCD and CRT, and NTSC/PAL TV-Out
• Direct support for WiFi, disk drives, keyboard, mouse, and other peripherals
• A complete Board Support Package (BSP) to enable fast times to market for Windows Mobile-based designs

For those curious about the ARM core, the Tecra 650 is based on the ARM11 MPCore multicore processor technology. The ARM11 can be configured to contain between one and four processors delivering up to an aggregate of 2600 Dhrystone MIPS of performance. You can read more about the ARM11 MPCore here on Arm’s website.

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Technorati Tags: NVIDIA, Tegra, ARM