Late last year Nvidia finally unveiled its answer to the netbook/nettop phenomenon, the Ion platform, which basically combines Intel's highly successful Atom processor with an Nvidia GeForce 9400M graphics chip. The company then touted a graphics and video bump of up to 10x compared to what's available today in these relatively cheap computers, but up until now, we haven't seen an awful lot from Nvidia to back their claims.
Hoping to rustle up some excitement, though, the graphics firm has now provided a series of benchmark results delivered by its Ion platform in a number of well-known applications and even games such as Spore and Call of Duty 4. Sadly, Nvidia didn't seem to find it necessary to compare its results with a non-Ion platform or even show how the increased graphics performance could affect battery life.
HotHardware and PC Perspective were both able to swing by Nvidia's booth at CES and get an up close look at the palm-size reference platform design, capable of decoding and playing full 1080p HD video content. Check them out for some first impressions and a couple of videos.