Hardware Nvidia's Next Generation Ion Platform

We delve into Nvidia's 'Next Generation Ion Platform', formerly known as Ion-2, to see how Optimus technology and numerous other tweaks hope to give a better graphics experience for Intel's latest Atom 'Pineview' CPUs.

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2010/03/03/nvidia-s-next-generation-ion-platform-ion-2/1

 

I agree with your comments about the pricing, and I think that even ION2 will struggle if they are really looking at the £350-£400 price range. The whole point of the netbook "revolution" was to provide cheap laptops, which a lot of manufacturers seem to have forgotten!

Really the prices should be like this:

£150 - £200 - For a good quality 10" Atom Netbook
£250 - £300 - For a 10" - 12" ION powered Netbook
Nettops should be around £200 for one with Linux, as the revo is currently

At those price points, ION will do well. I have a HP mini 311 (an ION netbook) and I was lucky enough to get it for £250 in a HP offer before xmas. For £250 (and even for thier current price of £300) I am happy with the purchase as it gives a good balance between portability and graphical power, but it is still held back by the atom processor in several ways (i.e. any non-GPU powered processes) so if it cost over £300 then I definatly would have just gone for something more powerful.

 

Wow didn't take Intel long to shove its crappy integrated graphics and SHITE chipset down NVidia and everybody else's throat.

Intel are really pi**ing me off, AMD Cheesecake.

 

Quite. Bully boy tactics will hurt Intel just as much as nVidia - doesn't Intel realise that it's hurting sales of Atom by having such a closed system?

ION is such a great little solution for an HTPC, but I don't think I'd consider an ION NG system given that it's effectively more crippled than the original ION.

 

Thae gap between a netbook and a cheap laptop is just too small for me.
I've been hoping they'd come down a bit, but nope, they just phase out to be replaced by newer ones at the same pricepoint. Shame.

 

Where is ION for Via Nano CPUs??? Will it happen? Now that's something I'd buy.

On a side note, it'd be interesting to see a comparative review of the following netbooks:

- Asus Eee PC 1201HA (Intel Atom Z520 only)
- Asus Eee PC 1201N (Old ION)
- Asus Eee PC 1201PN (Next generation ION)
- Asus Eee PC 1201T (AMD Athlon Neo + AMD Vision)

I personally have the latter (1201T) and I think it's very good: faster than my eeepc 1000H, good battery life, has a Radeon GPU and is ~$100 cheaper than 1201N.

 

Intel, you suck.
Shame your CPUs are generally pretty good...

 

Thank you richard for not putting in any transformers jokes.

 

Amen to that!

 

I agree, I cant wait to see how this goes over with HTPC, Set tops and so on, although if I can find a good priced Netbook with this hardware then I will jump on that and sell my 1000he

 

I'm always on the lookout for the best gaming netbook. I still have an EEPC 701 though - the 1021N and the 1201T don't have a removable battery, that canes me, it really does...i've replaced my battery twice now, I'm still gaming.....can anyone recommend the best current gaming netbook, given that this news suggests that there still isn't a great leap forward round the corner.....

 

1201T does have a removable battery, I can assure you that, and for what I see in the manual 1201N also has a removable battery. (the only thing I don't know is if you can buy spare batteries for them online)