Feb 11

NVIDIA shows off Ion Windows 7 multitasking, confirms launch details

Posted in: NVIDIA, nvidia ion, NvidiaIon, Today's Chili, windows 7, Windows7

We’ve already gotten a pretty good idea of Ion’s capabilities, but NVIDIA doesn’t seem to be one to turn down an opportunity to show it off, and it did just that recently at a joint press conference with Microsoft. As you might have guessed, the pair was especially keen to show off Windows 7 multitasking on the platform and, judging from the video available at the read link below, it seems to be more than up to the task, with it able to convert a 1080p video file to a more portable size while the video was playing, and play Left 4 Dead at 720p resolution without any noticeable hiccups. In other news, NVIDIA also confirmed that the first Ion-based system would, in fact, be a desktop, and that it’ll begin shipping sometime this spring. Unfortunately, there’s no word as to who may be manufacturing said desktop, with NVIDIA’s Drew Henry only going so far as to say that it’ll be “very small” and “affordable.”

Read – TweakTown, “NVIDIA demo Windows 7 multi-tasking on ION “
Read – Electronista, “First NVIDIA Ion system a desktop, due in spring”

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NVIDIA shows off Ion Windows 7 multitasking, confirms launch details originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Feb 2009 12:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Feb 11

Microsoft places stamp of approval on Vista-based Ion SFF PCs

Posted in: Microsoft, netbook, nettop, NVIDIA, Today's Chili

Not that NVIDIA really needs Microsoft to give the ole thumbs-up here, but having that seal of approval may convince some currently wary manufacturers to jump in and support the Ion platform over one of those perfectly fine alternatives. As with so many other devices in the world, NVIDIA’s Ion platform is now Certified for Windows Vista, meaning that PC users could one day experience all the joys of the aforesaid OS on Ion-based rigs as low as $299. We’re told that such machines could be on the market by summer, and they’ll be positively ready to deliver smooth Blu-ray playback while supporting DirectX 10, Aero Glass, Flip3D and GPU acceleration. Bring it, we say.

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Microsoft places stamp of approval on Vista-based Ion SFF PCs originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Feb 2009 11:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Feb 06

Intel ships Atom N280 for 720p netbooks — NVIDIA’s Ion points, laughs

Posted in: intel, NVIDIA, Today's Chili

With ASUS’ Eee PC 1000HE up for pre-order, it’s clear that netbooks are ready to make the jump from Intel’s lowly 1.6GHz Atom N270 to the suped-up 1.66GHz N280. In fact, Intel just confirmed shipments of its new Atom processor to PC makers. Now don’t let us hear you bellyaching about that being a meager 0.06GHz jump — the magic isn’t in the clock but in the faster 667MHz (up from 533MHz) front-side bus and new GN40 chipset with hardware-based 720p video decoder. That easily bests the Atom N270 pairing with the customary 945GSE chipset without any increase in power consumption. Think about that when trying to make a 10-inch netbook choice between ASUS’ Eee PC 1000HE (with new N280 proc and GN40 chipset) and Acer’s new N270-based Aspire One. Then again, maybe you’re waiting for the first netbook to ship with NVIDIA’s Atom-based Ion platform with full 1080p playback? Might as well, who knows, maybe you’ll land a production version of Windows 7, a swiveling touchscreen, and a finger-optimized UI in reward for your patience.

Update: Looks like the Eee 1000HE doesn’t have all the new bits — Laptop did some digging and found that it’s still got the same old 945GSE to go with that new proc, although it is still capable of doing 720p video playback. Boring, we’ll wait for the real GN40 machines to show up soon.

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Intel ships Atom N280 for 720p netbooks — NVIDIA’s Ion points, laughs originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 Feb 2009 03:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Feb 03

NVIDIA Ion platform review roundup

Posted in: NVIDIA, nvidia ion, NvidiaIon, review, roundup, Today's Chili

A handful of sites have managed to get their mitts on a miniature test PC equipped with NVIDIA’s Ion platform, and it looks like the line between netbook and laptop just got a whole lot blurrier. According to the testers, the setup delivers smooth HD video playback and could be a boon for the Home Theater PC market. It won’t play Crysis, but the DirectX 10-compatible chipset should do World of Warcraft and Left 4 Dead justice. Though the company claims it’ll only use 12% more power than comparative Intel 945GM/E-based solutions, PC Perspective found the test units to consume twice the wattage — of course, it might be a different story when Ion-equipped PCs hit retail channels. NVIDIA says the platform will tack on about $50 to $100 compared to similarly-spec’d 945GM/E models, and the first two computers to use it — one desktop and one netbook — should be out early summer.

Read – PC Perspective
Read – Laptop Magazine
Read – Hot Hardware

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NVIDIA Ion platform review roundup originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Feb 2009 14:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 16

Rumored Mac Mini refresh said to be Ion-based

Posted in: Apple, Mac, Mini, NVIDIA, nvidia ion, NvidiaIon, rumors, Today's Chili
People trading in salacious gossip have been counting on an update of the Mac mini for ages now, with most of the rumors centering on it making its appearance at Macworld. Well, the festivities came and went without a peep about the mini — but that hasn’t stopped the rumors from swirling. The latest we’re hearing is that the refresh will be built upon NVIDIA’s new Ion platform, which houses a 9400M GPU — the same graphics processor as the new unibody Macbooks — and could mean an even minier mini than the one we already know. Tom’s Hardware, the source of this newest rumor, also speculates on a March release date, though they’re not guessing on the price just yet.

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Rumored Mac Mini refresh said to be Ion-based originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Jan 2009 10:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 12

NVIDIA Ion platform gets demonstrated at CES

Posted in: nettop, NVIDIA, Today's Chili, video

We’ve been hearing an awful lot about NVIDIA’s Ion platform, but up until now, we haven’t seen an awful lot. HotHardware and PC Perspective were both able to swing by NVIDIA’s booth at CES and get an up close look at the diminutive system. On hand was a half-liter PC that utilized a 1.6GHz Atom 330 CPU and NVIDIA’s GeForce 9400M GPU, and it was reportedly being used to push some pretty stellar video on the monitors behind it. Have a look past the break for a couple demonstration vids — if this is the kind of graphical prowess we can expect from nettops of tomorrow, you can color us interested.

Read – HotHardware
Read – PC Perspective

Continue reading NVIDIA Ion platform gets demonstrated at CES

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NVIDIA Ion platform gets demonstrated at CES originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Jan 2009 21:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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