We already knew Nvidia was eyeing the netbook market but today the company actually announced their imminent entry with a new platform. Dubbed Ion, the platform combines both an Intel Atom and a GeForce 9400M on a Pico-ITX motherboard, and is touted as delivering a graphics and video bump of 10x compared to Intel’s GMA 945.


According to Nvidia, their Ion platform paired with an Atom chip is capable of running modern games such as Call of Duty 4 on lowered settings and even running operating systems like Vista or Windows 7 – assuming you have the necessary RAM. It should also open the door for netbook models with HDMI outputs, capable of pushing out 1080p high-definition content.

The company is expected to demonstrate the Ion platform at next month’s CES, and to have systems ready by mid-2009, once it gets some partners on board to bring this to market. While exact pricing has not been made public, Nvidia says Ion should add around $50 to the cost of a netbook.