The key take away associated with the Value Line is that 8-bit developers no longer need to sacrifice performance, power efficiency, and scalability for price. So, what advantages do the Value Line family offer over existing low end 8-bit microcontrollers? First, the MSP430 provides a modern, optimized 16-bit RISC CPU architecture that provides up to 10X more MIPS throughput, reduces the cycles necessary for task completion, and offers 50% greater code density over the low end 8-bit microcontrollers. This module will take a closer look at the data and what that means for the developer in some of the later slides. Second, the MSP430 core has been designed from the ground-up for low power consumption, offering as much as 10X lower power than low end 8-bit solutions. Intelligent peripherals, such as the integrated ADC, work independently from the CPU, meaning the core is only active when it needs to be in order to save on power. The same idea applies to the wake-up time because when the MSP430 quickly wakes up and goes back to sleep, it uses the absolute minimum amount of power to execute a function. Finally, the best microcontroller technology can not succeed if it is not easy to use. Not only does the Value Line bring into play the same innovative tools that make the rest of the MSP430 family easy to use, it is also completely code compatible with the rest of the MSP430 portfolio. This enables simple migration to the rest of the MSP430 product lines, distinguishing it from the typical low end 8-bit market.