14 DAY TRIAL // NVIDIA's CEO, Mr. Jen-Hsun Huang, has recently talked about some of the new technologies that have emerged in the computer system market, including Intel's Atom, VIA's Nano and NVIDIA's very own Ion platform. In a more extensive interview with Laptop Magazine, Mr. Huang talks about the future of the portable PC market and how he sees the Ion platform providing users with an impressive product, when compared to Intel's own Atom and integrated graphics solution, featured in almost every netbook and nettop currently available on the market.
According to Huang, the Atom processor, which was launched almost a year ago, could really take netbooks to a whole new level, when coupled with NVIDIA's GeForce 9400M chip solution, also known as the Ion platform. The combination of the two will provide the end user with a product that offers a premium PC experience, within a package that shouldn't cost more than $399. Unfortunately, NVIDIA's CEO refused to detail any specific release date for an Ion-based device, citing support for the company's customers.
In regard to rumors claiming that Intel is forcing system makers to buy Atom alongside the Intel chipset, consequently eliminating NVIDIA's chipset from the equation, Mr. Hung said, “I would hope that Intel isn’t doing anything to prevent consumers from getting the most innovative products, in this case, built around Atom, their own processor. I think consumers would be really disappointed if they learned that Intel is sabotaging their ability to get access to breakthrough technologies.” He also added that he “would be disappointed to learn that Intel is doing something to keep innovation from progressing, and keep end users from getting the best products out there.”
Mr. Huang also talks about one of the main competitors of Intel's Atom processor, namely VIA's Nano CPU, which he claims to be a “fabulous processor.” According to him, NVIDIA is planning to release an Ion platform that will support VIA's Nano in the future. “In the near future we’ll support it with our Ion platform as well. Not this particular Ion platform, but our next-generation Ion platform. At that point we’ll support Atoms, Celerons, Core 2 duos, Nanos. We want to support as many processors as we can.”
In regard to NVIDIA's Tegra platform, Huang claims that he expects to see a $199 MID, featuring a full notebook form factor, based on the Tegra platform.