NVIDIA on Thursday was reported as having visited Taiwan computer makers as part of a campaign to pressure Intel into allowing support for the GeForce 9400M and similar chipsets with the Atom processor. The chipset designer is said to be negotiating deals that would have the local firms themselves ask Intel to remove an insistence that Atom run only on its own platform and thus let NVIDIA move in, potentially leading to much faster graphics for netbooks and nettops.
We have reviewed many an Intel Atom netbook. Performance is quite standard at this point; the netbooks can handle basic multi-tasking including Web browsing and word processing and light multimedia use, such as watching streaming video or a navigating through a virtual world. But you are limited in what you can do on your netbook in terms of graphics performance and Nvidia doesn’t want it to stay that way.The company doesn't specifically say whether it has tried negotiating directly with Intel to get support but implies that a lack of success has forced the new tactic. Which companies have been petitioned aren't named, though Acer and ASUS currenly sell the majority of netbooks. Current users of the 9400M platform are relatively few but include Apple and Toshiba, though whether these have also been asked to pressure Intel isn't mentioned.
Today, the GPU maker released its GeForce 9400 + Intel Atom platform (called Ion) that will allow the Intel netbook platform to run a more powerful graphics option. It replaces Intel’s GMA 945 chipset (it is similar in a sense to what we saw on the ASUS N10J, but that system allowed for switching between the Intel and the Nvidia 9300M graphics card, while the Ion platform is Nvidia graphics only). While Nvidia isn’t looking to convert your netbook into a desktop replacement gaming system, it wants to give end consumers the ability to take advantage of the GPU on smaller form factors. So what will the platform bring to future netbooks?
Such a campaign points to a distinct reversal of NVIDIA's cautious stance on netbooks, revealing the company to now be directly interested in adapting it hybrid graphics and controller chipsets to the very low-cost and often limited field. Most netbooks are incapable of playing back HD video or of accelerating modern 3D.
According to the Nvidia, Ion will improve the graphics and video transcoding performance of Intel Atom netbooks by 10x. Sick of running Windows XP? The GeForce 9400 platform will help netbooks run modern operating systems like Vista and Windows 7. Ion-based systems will also be capable of handling high definition content and outputting it via HDMI. For more details, see our full interview with Nvidia on what the platform can do.
Along with the platform Nvidia is unveiling a Pico-ITX and motherboard nettop reference design that shows off the power of combining its GeForce 9400 platform with Atom processor. See the images in the gallery below.
Nvidia has not announced any OEM partners that will bring the new platform to market just yet, but expects systems to ship during the first half of 2009. As you can read in our interview, the company also hasn’t revealed the pricing but doesn’t expect it to add more than $50 to the total cost of a netbook. The company will be demoing this new small form factor platform at CES next month.
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