Currently, there are two legitimate players competing for the Low-Power Energy Saving platform: the Intel Atom (with the Intel 945G chipset) and the Via Nano (with the Via CN896 chipset).
Tom's Hardware compared the Atom and Nano, and mixed a non-production AMD Athlon 64 2000+ (with the AMD 780G chipset) as well.
"Intel's Atom has one definite advantage over the two other solutions-the power requirement stays within very controllable boundaries, which means that the delta between idle power and peak power is very small. If you know your performance requirements then you can be sure that Atom will be the lowest power solution, although not necessarily the most efficient one when more performance is required. The VIA device benefits from its integrated random number generator and hardware encryption support, which is both favorable for networking and security appliances." [Tom's Hardware | Atom, Athlon, or Nano? Energy-Savers Compared]
For best performance and best features, the VIA platform was the clear winner, but unfortunately, has a significantly higher peak power.
Tom's Hardware suggests that desktop users should look at other options, such as a mainstream chipset paired with a low-end dual-core processor. Going this route could probably give you a compromise of low-power consumption, better efficiency, and some flexibility (you can change the processor since it is NOT soldered on to the motherboard).
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