Do you want the Nvidia Ion experience?

John Chan | Jun 03, 2009

Nvidia was out in full force at Computex, showcasing the capabilities of its Ion and Tegra platforms. The Ion platform uses the Intel Atom processor but has the company's own graphics processor, giving Netbooks the ability to view HD videos and play games.

We checked out Nvidia's showcase and was left impressed. The photo you see above is that of a Lenovo S12 connected to a large monitor playing the 1080p version of The Dark Night movie. There was no sign of jerkiness at all, something current Netbooks with Intel integrated graphics wouldn't be able to achieve at this point.

Here's another photo of a Teclast Netbook running Call of Duty. Though details have obviously been turned down in the game settings, there's no denying that it's playable. Not bad for a small notebook typically meant for basic tasks like Web browsing and word processing.

On the flipside, you will probably get poorer battery life compared with those utilizing the Intel Atom chipset. During a Q&A session, Intel's Shmuel Eden, vice president of the company's Mobile Platforms Group, said "Ion graphics is an overkill". He added that balance between graphical prowess and other factors is important and that consumers will make the final decision when faced with a choice between Intel and Nvidia's offerings.

The powerful graphics capability of the Nvidia Ion makes the product very enticing, that's for sure. But how many people out there really want to view HD videos and play first-person-shooter games on a Netbook? Let us know what you think.

Filed under: Notebooks
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diagnostix

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diagnostix says...
This is just going to be a natural escalation to the netbooks. Maybe watching HD videos on a little screen on the netbook is not quite cinematic, but between one that can, and one that can't, I'll choose the one that can, since you never know when you will plug into a large screen to watch.

I am more excited by the various nettops coming up. These little boxes are great for the living room and could be the norm for future homes.

Jun 04, 2009 13:05