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

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

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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