14 DAY TRIAL // With the launch of the Ion platform, NVIDIA has certainly managed, one more time, to catch the attention of the world, as this product is capable of providing the best netbook experience for Atom-based systems. In doing so, the chip maker has gained the appreciation of most netbook fans out there, but has probably ended on the bad side of Intel, which will likely see its chipset be left out of a product that is currently based only on Intel technologies. However, NVIDIA's motherboard GPU might just help another chip maker, VIA Technologies, take the market by storm.
According to a recent news-article on Digitimes, NVIDIA's chief executive officer, Jen-Hsun Huang, has confirmed that the company is currently collaborating with VIA on providing support for Nano processors, with an upcoming Ion 2 platform. Apparently, although it is still in its development stages, said platform could debut sometime later this year, as an alternative to other low-cost PCs, powered by Atom processors. According to the aforementioned article, Drew Henry, general manager of NVIDIA's MCP business segment, has already confirmed that NVIDIA and VIA are considering a cooperation that will provide users with a VIA-powered low-cost PC.
The news is somewhat to be expected, as the two companies have already demonstrated the performance capabilities of a Nano-GeForce solution, last year at Computex. Back then, a test platform, made out of a Nano-powered system and a discrete NVIDIA GeFore graphics card, was used to seamlessly run one of the most graphics-demanding gaming applications on the market, Crysis.
In related news, Drew Henry said that the first Ion-based PC product for Intel's Atom CPUs would become available for US$299 and would launch before June this year. As expected, the first product will come in the form of a nettop, but we are yet to find out the name of the PC vendor.