14 DAY TRIAL // Thanks to the launch of NVIDIA's Ion platform, the market for low-power netbooks and nettops is expected to undergo a significant change, as users will be demanding better systems capable of running applications more smoothly and provide support for HD video, gaming and Microsoft's Windows Vista or later operating systems. This is a market where Intel can compete with its already available GN40 chipset and Atom N280 processor, but it appears the solution is drawn back by the current success rate of Windows XP-based systems.
According to a recent news-article on Digitimes, netbooks running on Intel's GN40 chipset and the higher-power Atom N280 1.66GHz processor are late to make themselves present on the current market. According to the article, the main reason for this situation is the market success of netbooks running on Microsoft's Windows XP operating system, which doesn't really allow the GN40 chipset to reveal its true potential.
Microsoft's Windows Vista will be a more suitable operating system for all netbooks running on the GN40 chipset and Intel's latest Atom processor. That's because Windows Vista makes use of Microsoft's DirectX 10 and DXVA 2.0 APIs, which are meant to improve the system's 3D graphics performance and hardware video decoding.
According to the Santa Clara, California-based chip maker, the decision to adopt a certain operating system and combining it with different Intel platforms belongs to system vendors. This basically means that, as long as companies such as ASUS, Acer, HP and others don't plan on releasing GN40-equipped netbooks that run on Vista, we will be left with all those netbooks that provide a low Windows XP experience.
ASUS is among the first system vendors to introduce a netbook that runs on the GN40, with the release of its Eee PC 1004DN, earlier this year. Another system that runs on the HD-capable Intel platform is the Touch Note T1028 from Gigabyte.