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The size of everything these days seems to be getting smaller and smaller from the meat inside your hamburger bun to the PC sitting on your desktop and as space increasingly becomes a commodity the trend for smaller less real estate taking computers will more firmly make ground. Shuttle computer group has done a lot of research into the SFF field and has inheritably had quite a success with their XPC line of mini PC's. Other companies have since followed suit as they have realized that the market is a viable field for the consumer dollar but Shuttle really did the break the ice on the mini-PC and SFF bandwagon. Longtime chip developer and recent CPU/FAB manufacturer VIA has also jumped into the mini PC market feet first using their own board design and their new C3 EDEN EBGA processor running at cool 1000MHz. The M-9000 and EPIA motherboard are aimed at the low end or appliance market such as work terminals or E-machine type environments that do not require the high-end power of an enthusiast's machine.
Do not try and compare the performance levels of the EPIA and the C3 1000 with that of the latest Canterwood and 3.0GHz P4 as they are not the same market or target audience of this product. Think of the benefits though of using this small board in a system only aimed as a place to access the Internet or do word processing and the appeal should become apparent. A computer that is the size of a book would definitely be a very appealing commodity and should make a place for itself in its own niche market. This board will mainly find its way into the integrated and OEM market and users are more likely to find it in a Gateway/Dell production system rather than selling on the shelf at your local retailer. 
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