Anything that makes our netbooks, nettops, and smartphones into slightly less mediocre video performers is okay in our book, so we're fond of NVIDIA's
ION platform and are looking forward to finding out exactly what the company has up its sleeve for
ION 2. We weren't, however, expecting an
even cheaper revision of the chipset, but that's exactly what's been announced this morning. NVIDIA is creating ION LE, a sibling of the existing ION that does everything its big sister can do
except support DirectX 10. The idea, of course, is to lower costs while providing all the functionality XP-packing netbooks and nettops need, but as
Windows 7 sits at home getting made up for its débutante party we have to wonder just how much longer Microsoft's old faithful will be on the market -- and how much longer DX9 will be relevant.
[Via
SlashGear]
posted Aug 4th 2009 8:21AM
Why do people still do this?
I've added ION to the long list of techs that either never come out or fail to deliver their promises.
It lets you run GPU accelerated tasks on the underpowered netbook/nettop platform. I'd say it has lived up to its promise quiet well.
Admittedly this LE version may be a bit useless, I'm sure GPGPU is mostly tied in with DX10 n DX11 hardware. Cos of the unified shader architecture.
Acer Aspire Revo?
No, wait, its already sold (yeah, with Ion in it). So it can't be the same ION we're talking about.
"It lets you run GPU accelerated tasks on the underpowered netbook/nettop platform. I'd say it has lived up to its promise quiet well."
Yeah, except for the part where it's barely available in any netbook/nettop on the market.
JUST WALK AWAY...
Exactly crsh.
Barely available and too expensive for what it is.
Notice the LOADS of 10" netbooks with ION for sale today.
"I've added ION to the long list of techs that either never come out or fail to deliver their promises."
Really? I walked into a store on Sunday (in Canada) and bought the ASRock ION 330 (opted for non-Blu Ray), installed Windows 7 RC, and now have it playing back HD MKVs off my Windows Home Server without a hiccup. I even paired it with a Hauppauge HVR 1950 and it's recording cable TV with no problem, and it works with my Harmony remote.
Heck, I even installed Left 4 Dead, and even though the graphics have to be knocked back to 720p, it worked flawlessly.
So it's out, and it delivers exactly what it promises.
Personally my interest in ION is from a HTPC perspective and I don't need DX10 to watch HD movies. ION LE sounds great to me.
From an HTPC perspective, ION works great. Set one up over the weekend with Windows 7 RC. Good stuff, and no more worrying about codec support and/or transcoding for playback from the 360 or PS3. Not having to use TVersity or Transcode 360 is worth the price of admission in my book.
Now all I need is a new receiver that has more than one optical in...
PS: you'll have to shell out more money for either an IR dongle, or in my case the Hauppauge external TV tuner, if you want to stick to a one-remote living room.
Do you need Dx10 for Blu-Ray movies?
No.
honestly, i'm not sure. i've seen people do this on every f'in story. so i thought i'd see what it's like.
*shrug*
I have made a mistake not buying a laptop with GPU, do we have "external graphic cards" so that I can play the games which requires graphic cards? I overheard of china made external graphic cards. Can tech experts here please suggest?
you could get an xgp (eXternal Graphics Processor) but you probably better off buying a brand new laptop if you're spending that kind of money.
I recommend getting a different laptop.
As for actual products:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/video/display/20070111060818.html
And I'm sure there were others. But they're all bulky and noisy and expensive so I highly recommend getting a better laptop.
What's your obsession with graphics performance of netbooks? Seriously, they're not made for playing games.
Well, its always interesting to interesting to play Team Fortress 2, Left4Dead, Warcraft 3, Final Fantasy 7, 8 or 11, and other cool games, when you're stuck somewhere on vacations, during a trip, work or just BECAUSE YOU CAN!
It also creates a bigger bond between you and your computer if it can do more for you right?
Many 10' monitors already have 1366x768 resolution nowadays, so HD movies is another thing we can do with this cool chip if you're planing on going over 720p (actually even 720p is kinda choppy on some standard Atom systems) and since it also adds HDMI...
This was a really smart move from nVIDIA, taking off stuff we didn't really need at all from the start.
Cheaper and smaller..? YES, PLEASE!
Just hope they make this one using 40nm architecture and shave a few Watts in the process.
ION 2? where is ION 1? NVIDIA failed to deliver.
Intel works pretty well though and so does ATI.
Lenovo S12.
Oh, wait, its not sold yet... doesn't matter, will get one when it starts selling.
PS: Nvidia doesn't make PCs or laptops so I don't see how they failed to deliver Ion, you can get Aspire Revo nettop if you want one.
Removing DX10 is a good idea. No need to pay M$ so that I can build an Ion-based HTPC to watch 1080p under Linux.
M$? OH WAIT, Microsoft! The money sign is because they have a lot of money! HAHA! AWESOME! HAHAHAHAHA! AAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA! Jesus that's good comedy right there.
I'm glad you're just seeing "M$" used for the first time. Welcome to 1998, chummmmmmmmp.
Big whooshing of stuff going over heads ;)
Ya, and based on his other comments, GP is just an angry little twit. *yawn*
I know, "M$" is brilliant, I'm just too uptight to appreciate it. Being the GRAMMAR POLICE isn't easy, man. I'm sure you understand, feeling that constant pressure to top your last stroke of comedic brilliance.
"M$" is so old it is neither funny nor intelligent.
I used it in passing. I didn't know you little girls would get in a hissy-fit over it. Go buy a new purse if that makes you feel better.
@416
You should be able to differentiate me from a girl because I am acknowledging your existence.
Hey, at least it wasn't me for a change =p
yeaa, everyone likes to get their first "first", but dont do it again....kthx
Well... considering the fact that the biggest baddest 3d games have yet to show much real benefit from DX10 over DX9, I can't see why DX9 will be insufficient for the next couple of generations of netbooks -- Hell, DX7 would probably be sufficient, I am pretty sure that anything that even requires DX9 would require far more raw horsepower than you would be getting from your netbook. Why waste money on DX10? This is one of the dumbest things I have read on engadget in a long time. They may as well be complaining that their netbook won't play Crysis.
"I am pretty sure that anything that even requires DX9 would require far more raw horsepower than you would be getting from your netbook"
What like aero? :) Even intel's GMA manages that..
All i want is ION processor, 10-12" LED backlit screen, hd display, hdmi, BT 2.1EDR, webcam, wirelessN, 160gb hd. Is that so much to ask? Lenovo's S12 (the only one I am currently aware of) coming with the ION, wont have bluetooth and wireless N?
Id totally rock an Eee PC Seashell with all my stats listed, that'd be sooooo sexy!
Anyways... i'm anxiously waiting! Id buy it tomorrow if I could!
Your specs on a 10" 1366x768 reso screen and I would be happy to pay $600 for a netbook.
so, what was it like? give us an empirical review
i love lamp
Aero/Aero Peek runs through DX9 hardware so why bother with DX10/11 on Ion ? anyone who thinks it's a games platform needs to understand how much power you need for all those DX10/11 effects outside of the graphics card.
As long as Ion LE can still be used by Core then HD video ahoy !
Yeah, compared to Win7 XP IS starting to feel like low-end computing.
what's the point having DX10 on such a small device? also DX10 games dont look much different from DX9 games currently and we all know clearly those ion based stuff wont play much game any way
D3D11 has GPGPU capabilities.
I really wonder why Engadget doesn't care at all about it's comment section. Gawker blogs simply ban every idiot that posts some retarded version of "First" without further notice, and that's how it should be.
Just hurry up and release this vaporware!!!
The point of Ion is to accelerate Aero completely--and be able to do light gaming, such as Warcraft 3 or Counter-Strike, in addition to having some performance gains when Flash, Silverlight and the others finally implement GPU-based acceleration.
(*Silverlight is already supporting this in v3.)
Why don't they just hurry up and put these in netbooks then I'll be more interested
NVidia has no control here. The netbook manufacturers have to be willing to adopt Ion. However in that way this LE version makes a lot of sense... the lower cost could give it much more appeal in this market.
didnt even know that MS charged money for DX 10.
love this new smaller cheaper but capable trend,
cant wait to see this chipset in a small HTPC soon. ASrock any1?
So this is basically the same as having the broadcom accelerator then?