Netbook Lounge » nvidia

nVidia’s Ion set to skyrocket netbook graphics

Stuart — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 19:24:26 +0000

Here comes nVidia and business is about to pick up in the netbook world. nVidia finally announced its entry into the netbook market today with a brand new platform, which means netbooks — lacking significantly in the graphics department — are about to get a boost.

nVidia’s Ion platform will bring a whole new level of graphics to netbooks, combining Intel Atom and a GeForce 9400M on a Pico-ITX motherboard, with a graphics and video performance some ten times better than Intel’s GMA 945. This will allow netbooks to do what was previously impossible – run some of the newest game releases, even if with settings lowered from what what a PC powerhouse could manage.

Yep, thats right — you will actually be able to run something like Far Cry 2 or Left 4 Dead on your laptop with an Ion-charged Intel Atom netbook! It also means Windows Vista or Windows 7 will be more plausible options on netbooks that previously struggled to run them.

The Ion platform is expected to be on show at next month’s CES and systems using it should be out and about by the middle of 2009. nVidia says Ion will add about $50 to the price of netbooks, but with what it is likely to bring, that will surely be an extra $50 well spent.

NVIDIA + Intel = improved Atom chipset

Stuart — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 14:42:52 +0000

According to the DigiTimes, NVIDIA and Intel are teaming up and its good news for netbook fans. Their union will enable NVIDIA chipset support to Intel’s Atom platform, which would enhance graphic performance. As you all know, virtually all netbooks of note use the Atom processor, so this could lead to a significant upgrade in netbook performance, since most netbooks currently use Intel’s built-in graphics chip.

NVIDIA’s MCP79 chipset will be the first to support Atom CPUs, but initially will only apply to nettops. After that, though, we should start seeing netbooks benefit from this venture. ASUS, Gigabyte, and MSI have already given their blessings to the partnership, believing it will give them more pricing flexibility.

NVIDIA still watching the netbook market

Stuart — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 18:35:25 +0000

Early last month, NVIDIA announced that they and VIA had scrapped plans for a netbook platform, after much talk about them entering the market. But on Tuesday, NVIDIA officials revealed that the company is still interested in netbooks and the possibility of entering the market. So what are they waiting for? Well, they simply want to wait for the market to mature before plunging into it.

Marv Burkett, the chief financial officer at NVIDIA, said on a webcast that it is a matter of how the market evolves and whether it is fully viable for the company to get involved. NVIDIA’s entry into the netbook scene could present a big challenge for Intel’s dominant Atom powered processor that most netbooks use, and would also likely improve graphics on netbooks.

Source PC World

NVIDIA and VIA cancel netbook platform plans

Stuart — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 15:44:56 +0000

Sources at VIA Technologies have told the DigiTimes that NVIDIA and VIA have suspended their cooperation and plans over a platform for netbooks and Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs).

The companies signed a cooperation agreement in April of this year that was to have seen VIA’s C7 and Nano CPUs paired with MCP79 IGP chipsets from Nvidia, but for still unknown reasons these plans have come to a grinding halt. Electronista brought up Apple’s rumoured plan to be working on a tablet- or netbook-like device that could require full cooperation from NVIDIA and could be a plausible explanation for the breakdown in these plans.

VIA said that they and NVIDIA do still plan to cooperate and showcase desktop PC products at CES 2009, despite cooperation on their netbook platform being suspended.