Nvidia breeds mutant netbook
No, Nvidia aren’t building their own netbook but they have realised the value of the sub-notebook niche of computer hardware and reacted with ‘Ion’. Basically, Nvidia have produced a decent netbook graphics card for netbooks. You have to admit that the current offerings are actually pretty crap - sure, they get the job done but if you’re using them for more than an hour or so it can a real strain on the eyes.
The Ion platform platform is made up of an Atom-based motherboard with Nvidia’s GeForce 9400 onboard graphics processor bolted on to it. Cue CUDA support and outrageous amounts of I/O for netbooks.
Nvidia have already demoed Ion’s capabilities on a ‘nettop’ (the platform was originally designed with mobile PCs in mind) by running Call Of Duty 4 without a single hitch! Let’s see your Eee PC 1000 do that :). In addition, video playback seems to be far better on the Ion system which probably has something to do with the built-in, full-spec 1080p HD video support - looks like the end to jumpy movie playback on your netbook is near!
Admittedly, the announcement by Nvidia isn’t going to solve the gripes people have with keyboards and small screens but it should help - now you have a device that fits in your pocket that can be plugged into a full sized monitor/keyboard to give users a desktop-like experience.
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