Big blow to ION, Intel certifies HD Broadcom chip for Pine Trail platform

Intel’s Pine Trail platform only has two chips compared to the three found in current Atom-based netbooks. The move means that the platform should be cheaper, have better performance and lead to great battery lives. However, by moving the GPU and memory controller onto the Pineview processor means that the graphics side may suffer.

Intel has realised this and has therefore certified a HD decoding chip from third-party Broadcom. This is likely to be a big blow to Nvidia, whose ION platform is compatible with Pineview. Intel will offer the Broadcom BCM70015 GPU as an option to its partners when the Pine Trail platform launches in Q4 2010. Read more

Intel plans surcharge for Atom chips in ION netbooks

Nvidia’s ION platform consists of Intel’s Atom processor combined with Nvidia’s 9400M GPU. The combination is said to bring significant benefits to both 3D and HD performance. Whilst some ION products have already been spotted in the wild with some official ION announcements expected at Computex Taipei, Intel may have placed a stumbling block on the ION’s future success.

Intel CEO, Paul Otellini, yesterday confirmed that Intel is charging more for the Atom CPU by itself than it does if combined with the Intel chipset. “We have historically offered better pricing to people who buy more product,” Otellini said. Several OEMs have said that whilst buying the cheaper Atom CPU and chipset and then swapping it for ION is possible, the process is cost and time prohibitive.

Nvidia’s CEO recently claimed that adding ION would add an incremental $50 to the cost of a netbook. However, once you account for the higher Atom processors, the cost may be just too high for some manufacturers to adopt.

Via Laptop Mag.

ION netbooks snapped

If there were any doubts that ION netbooks were on the horizon, then a gallery of pictures from PCPop should lay those to rest. These pictures show a number of ION-based products including motherboards, nettops as well as netbooks. The ION netbooks are all from non-descript manufacturers, but at least it highlights that (hopefully) it can’t be too long before we start to see ION from the major netbook brands.

The netbooks looks fairly cheap in terms of design, but all models seem to feature HDMI output which will be appealing to some. We are hoping for lots more exciting ION announcements at the start of Computex Taipei on June 2nd. Click through for some pictures of the ION netbooks. Read more

Nvidia ION platform benchmarked & reviewed

Nvidia’s ION platform is already making its way into a number of nettops and its inclusion in netbooks shouldn’t be that far off. ION takes an Intel Atom processor and partners it with a GeForce 9400M in place of the ageing 945 chipset. To show you how much of an improvement the ION platform is over current solutions, X-bit Labs have taken an engineering sample and given it a thorough testing.

They compare the ION platform to Intel’s 945 chipset across a number of different benchmarks including Windows Experience, PC Mark Vantage, 3DMark06, games, internet, power consumption and HD video playback. It’s interesting to see that whilst ION performs significantly better than the 945 chipset in 3D benchmarks, it’s still some way off the ability to play the latest games. X-bit’s view is that it cannot “be regarded even as an entry level gaming system”. The main issue is that the slow CPU acts as a bottleneck to the GPU (9400M). Read more

MSI and Asus to snub Nvidia’s Ion platform?

Two of the biggest names in the netbook arena, Asustek and Microstar International (MSI), have no plans to launch products based on the Nvidia Ion platform according to Fudzilla. Its sources suggest that ION-based netbooks from these two manufacturers are not even on the agenda.

The report goes on to say that neither company wants to upset their relationship with Intel by choosing to adopt Nvidia’s platform. Another reason is that they do not want to cannibalise sales of their current nettops in the market.

We are expecting a number of “key” players to announce Ion-powered netbooks at Computex Taipei in June. If this news is true, then unfortunately MSI and Asus will not be on that list. MSI may be focusing on a rumoured Android netbook that it is supposed to be announced at the show instead.

40 Nvidia Ion Products expected to launch this year

Nvidia held a press conference in Taipei yesterday to unveil two nettops based on the Ion platform, the ASRock ION 330 and Pegatron’s Cape 7. Interestingly, during the conference, Nvidia claimed that over 40 Ion-powered netbooks, nettops and all-in-One PCs are scheduled to launch by the end of this year.

Whilst the number of nettops powered by Nvidia’s Ion platform is growing all the time, we have yet to see it being utilised by netbooks. Hopefully it won’t be long before Ion-powered netbooks are revealed, the latest rumours point to a number of manufacturers releasing Ion netbooks at the Computex show in June. Read more

Nvidia Ion-powered netbooks to appear at Computex

Now that we are starting to see the Nvidia Ion platform appear in nettops, such as Acer’s Aspire Revo, it is a matter of time before we start to see some netbook–related announcements. Word from Pocket-Lint is that a number of manufacturers are preparing to announce Ion-powered netbooks at Computex Taipei in June.

They claim that a man on the inside at Nvidia has confirmed some big announcements from “key” netbook companies. Their inside man is also talking of shipping dates as early as July. “You will see some announcements at the show with ship dates as early as July,” said the Nvidia tipster. Read more

ARM-based netbooks struggling with video

There has been much talk of how ARM processors are set to change the netbook landscape when they start to appear in netbooks by the end of this year. ARM netbooks would have the advantage of being up to ten times more power efficient than their x86 equivalents as well as being designed for 24/7 wireless connectivity. However, the first wave of netbooks may be underpowered according to engineers who are currently working on ARM netbook prototypes.

One issue that engineers have encountered is that Adobe Flash does not yet run natively on the ARM processor. The ARM platforms support for web video will be critical to its success. ARM and Adobe did announce that it will deliver a version of Flash 10 optimised for ARM devices at some point during 2009, although nothing has materialised so far. Another problem is that a number of web video sites are moving from Flash to the H.264 codec. Whilst ARM does support the codec, significant work will be required on the wrapper to make sure H.264 web videos can be played smoothly. Read more

Nvidia Tegra-powered HP Mini 1000 netbook

Nvidia has shown off a HP Mini 1000 at CTIA powered by its own Tegra platform. The unit was shown using a Windows CE build. As it uses an ARM CPU, it does not support Windows XP and Vista. The Nvidia Tegra line is a low-power platform aimed at mobile products and can handle 720p HD video.

Nvidia were showcasing the Tegra platform rather than telling the world that it is planning to commercialise a Tegra-powered HP Mini. The prototype demonstrated was about the size of a single DIMM RAM. It shows how scalable the platform is.

Could we see these in MIDs or netbooks soon? The advantage of HDMI, playable 3D graphics and more battery life may be enough to convince users to sacrifice Windows XP/Vista/Windows7. There are no firm Tegra product announcements yet, but as with Ion, it can’t be too long now.

Via Engadget.

Nvidia Ion launching this quarter

Nvidia’s Ion platform is expected to appear this quarter (April to June) according to an official press release. Nvidia’s Ion is an Intel Atom system that has been powered-up with a GeForce 9400M in place of the ageing 945 chipset. Though the 9400M is new to the Atom, it’s an established chipset that’s already found in full-spec notebooks such as the Dell Studio XPS 13 and the Apple MacBook.

One of the first Ion-based nettops could be the Acer Hornet, which is believed to be launching in Beijing on April 8th. Intended to fit on the back of a flatscreen monitor, the Hornet offers both media centre functionality and motion-sensitive games, similar to the Nintendo Wii.

Its appearance in netbooks/nettops will mean that these low-power systems should be able to handle modest 3D gaming and decode 1080p video content without breaking a sweat. Personally we can’t wait to see the appearance of Ion in a netbook, but its success will depend on the pricing. However, to try and convince you how big a deal this really is, Nvidia has got some industry bigwigs (Adobe, Google, Microsoft, and Electronic Arts) together to tell you so. Check out the video after the jump. Read more

Nvidia considers x86 CPUs, Ion netbooks in Q2 2009

Michael Hara, vice president of investor relations at NVIDIA, announced last week that the company may develop an x86 CPU targeted at the netbooks and mobile Internet devices (MID) market.

“Tegra, by any definition, is a complete computer-on-chip, and the requirements of that market are such that you have to be very low power and very small but highly efficient. Someday, it’s going to make sense to take the same approach in the x86 market as well,” Hara said. Read more

Two ARM-powered netbooks to appear in June

At least two ARM-powered netbooks are expected to appear at Computex Taipei according to Digitimes. One netbook due to appear will be manufactured by Pegatron Technology and equipped with Freescale’s i.MX51 CPU (ARM Coretex A8) whilst the other will be manufactured by Wistron equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU.

ARM’s Chief Executive has already revealed that he expects ten ARM-powered netbooks to launch in 2009, therefore the Computex launch fits in with this timescale. Others are likely to follow suit, we already know that Asustek is considering future Eee PCs equipped with the Qualcomm Snapdragon chip. MSI has also expressed interest in developing for the Nvidia Tegra system-on-chip platform too. Computex takes place between 2 – 6 June 2009.

Nvidia expects first Ion in Q2 2009

The first Nvidia Ion powered devices are set to launch in Q2 2009 according to sources at Fudzila. Initially these are likely to be nettop based rather than in a netbook, however it seems that a number of OEMs are interested in the platform. A number of OEMs do not want to be the first to jump though and will await the reaction from the first releases before committing to the platform.

We know that Nvidia has been in contact with Lenovo, Founder and some second-tier white-box manufactures pushing its platform for use in netbooks. Although the chipset’s price is US$5-10 higher than Intel’s 945, its support for HD video and graphics output has earned quite a bit of interest. Watch this space.

Intel GN40 to support 1080p but not Blu-ray

Intel has clarified that its upcoming GN40 chipset will support “typical broadband internet content” in 1080p HD – but not Blu-ray playback according to Fudzilla. An official statement from the company slightly clarifies the positioning of the chipset: “GN40 is designed to do 1080p HD playback for typical broadband internet content; it is not designed to enable full Blu-ray capability where the bitrates and demands of multi-layer content are significantly higher than that of internet HD content.” This comes despite claims from Intel that it would be offering “full Hi-Def video decode with HW acceleration with the off-roadmap Mobile Intel GN40 Express Chipset.”

While the GN40 was always going to handle the relatively lightweight 720p HD format, no-one was quite sure whether full-HD 1080p would be on the cards. In our view, the lack of 1080p playback is not too much of a big deal. After all can anyone really tell the difference between 720p and 1080p on a 10-inch screen? This is even more apparent given that no netbooks released so far have a resolution close to 1920 x 1080. In our eyes, this would only be of use to a HDMI-equipped netbook which would allow the connection to an external display. For some this news may come as a disappointment and gives Nvidia’s Ion platform a chance to steal the limelight.

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