I have spent many many hours analyzing the x86 vs ARM alternative for embedded boards. The tradeoff is quite large in terms of ease of use and application portability in favor for x86, but yes much higher power requirements. If you want to run on battery power for long extended periods then ARM makes sense, but then you're talking about a whole different class of applications. If you want portable but mostly plugged in then a 200-300 Mhz PC/104 x86 board is very flexible. I've given up on x86 for this kind of thing but then I want something that runs all day on batteries. So as with most tech decisions, the answer depends on the requirements. -- Doug