Lightweight netbooks are pretty little devices to have around but their wallet-friendly price tag comes at a cost. Netbooks today can do little beyond basic internet surfing. That's set to change, says Nvidia.
The company is planning to launch a CPU-GPU combo that would combine Intel's Atom processor and Nvidia’s GeForce 9400M motherboard graphics processing unit (GPU) into a new platform called Ion.
Ion, which is likely to debut in the first half of 2009, can potentially offer graphics and video performance that is ten times better than just an Atom-processor based device, says Nvidia.
The platform will also be powerful enough to go beyond Windows XP and run Vista and potentially even Microsoft’s upcoming operating system Windows 7.
An Ion-platform machine will generate less heat than a current Atom system, while offering battery life that is about the same, says PC World.
Clearly this is the next evolutionary step for netbooks. While netbooks score on price, size and weight, their limited processing capabilities render them almost useless for some time-killing activities such as playing some World of Warcraft or watching crazy animal videos on YouTube without the machine stalling several times.
Companies other than Nvidia are also taking note of this limitation. AMD isplanning to release Yukon, its CPU-GPU combo for netbooks, next year.
It is likely Nvidia's Ion will hit the market first. It could be a little more expensive than just Atom-based machines but it's a price most consumers should be willing to pay.
Photo: Nvidia Ion (Masaru Kamikura/Flickr)
