NVIDIA’s new ultraportable platform Ion is tailored for Intel’s budget processor Atom. The platform is NVIDIA’s solution for the netbook market and unlike the Intel 945G platform that most netbooks use today, NVIDIA’s chipset sports a potent graphics circuit. We’ve already seen how NVIDIA has published benchmarks that puts the Intel platform to real shame, but now the first wave of independent tests have appeared. The results puts Ion as the victor with a devastating margin in performance, but it is not the solution to all of the problems of the netbook platform.
NVIDIA Ion’s integrated graphics circuit enables both 3D games and high definition video (1080p) playback, which is impossible with the Intel kit. Considering this NVIDIA Ion is the obvious choice with no real competition on the netbook market in the present, but as always there are downsides.
NVIDIA Ion playing 1080p Blu-ray film
First of all the power consumption of NVIDIA’s platform is higher, something that is a touchy subject where the battery time has been closing in on respectable numbers lately. Exactly how much more power it consumes is hard to say since the different tests show different numbers, but the battery time will take a hit, it’s just a matter of how much.
Another problem which perhaps can’t be blamed on NVIDIA is that Ion is almost too powerful sometimes. Intel’s Atom processor quickly becomes the bottleneck and in games its sooner the processor that limits performance rather than the graphics circuit.
NVIDIA Ion looks like a real exciting platform, bit perhaps a bit ahead of its time. With its low power consumption and powerful video functionality it is certainly not only the netbook platform that is within reach, you have to look long and hard for a more power efficient and smaller HTPC.
“Would we give it and Editors Choice if this was a retail SKU from one of the major OEMs? You betcha. We’ll be waiting in anticipation to see Ion in retail-ready form in the months ahead.” – HotHardware
Previews of NVIDIA Ion:
:: Anandtech :: HotHardware :: PC Perspective ::
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