VIA Nano have the x86 instructions, and also have x86-64 too, which means it will also run 64-bit applications. Vista also has both 32 and 64 bit, and Windows 7 is also said to be supporting both.

VIA Nano will have about 2.0 GHz, quicker than the Intel Atom, but have a TDP of 25 watts, in comparison to the Atom's 4 watts. VIA has also planned for an Ultra Low Voltage versions. These Ultra Low Voltage CPUs should run around 1.3+ GHz, and have a TDP of 8 watts.

The VIA Nano have 1 MB cache and also have the 65nm or 45nm manufacturing process. VIA is not too much famous for their CPUs. That’s the reason why they are lacking behind Intel and AMD, but Nano promises to put them on track somewhat. Though I doubt if Nano will be able to make its way in desktop PCs in the conventional, but will surly affect the small form market.

Nano has a hardware security feature that Intel and ADM has yet to include in their CPUs. Though, Intel and AMD have the NX, a buffer overflow protection, but the Nano has gone beyond that. Via added Full SHA-1 & SHA-256 secure hash. This is a NSA-level file hashing.

File hashing is same as checksums. The checksum confirms that the files are completed and not corrupted. The secure hash does this and a lot more. It uses 256-length strings for its checksum, therefore it’s next to impossible to copy it or have the same checksum for multiple applications.

VIA also added 2 random number generators. This hardware can do around12 million random numbers a second. It comes into play while dealing with security and that kind of stuff.

The VIA Nano have an on-die encryption. It can run in various modes: Full AES en/decryption RSA acceleration CBC, CFB-M, AC, and CTR.

VIA's promises to outclass Atom CPU and be in level with the Celeron M performance with less wattage. VIA demoed a Nano along with an nVidia 8600GT running Crysis, it appears to be a very capable of CPU. Though, it can’t be in level of Core Duo as it has only single core processor.