14 DAY TRIAL // One of the biggest innovations showcased at this year's International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada was NVIDIA's Pico ITX Reference PC, designed to take advantage of the company's Ion platform. The small-sized platform is capable of delivering an impressive performance, while it uses components typically featured on netbooks, nettops or small-sized, Internet-capable devices. The aforementioned platform combines Intel's Atom CPU with NVIDIA's GeForce 9400M graphics chip, a combination that has led to an interesting concept that has been recognized by Laptop Magazine as the Best Enabling Technology.
The award was somewhat to be expected, as the chip maker managed to develop a system that probably delivers the best performance in a small, lightweight form factor. Ion is similar, in terms of physical dimensions, to some of the already available nettops on the market, which haven't been featured with an NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics chip. However, unlike its siblings, the Ion is capable of providing excellent HD video, photo and video editing, also offering support for popular PC games.
Laptop Magazine notes that the Ion “was no bigger than a router,” but was able to run “Call of Duty 4 and a high definition video without a hiccup on a large TV.” The Ion has also been recognized by techage, which considered it one of the Best products at this year's CES event, while Hot Hardware sees the Ion as “a home run in the making.”
We also had a chance to see what the Ion is capable of, back in late December last year. We were pleasantly impressed by the size factor of the platform, but also by the overall specifications, as it could easily render HD movies, without any hiccups. If you weren't among the attendants at CES this year, we can tell that the Ion is basically a PC that can fit in your pocket. All we have to do is to wait for some different designs, due to be released by this summer.