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We’ve already seen some of what the new Nvidia Ion platform is capable of, and now it appears the company is finally ready to start talking about launch plans for the first systems based on it. Speaking at a press conference in Taiwan today, the company's mainboard chipset manager Drew Henry confirmed that the first Ion-based system would arrive in the form of a very small and affordable desktop sometime this spring.


He declined to say which company is making the system, or provide any other details for that matter, but was careful to note that Ion will also make its way into netbooks later this year – at least we know Acer is already considering the platform for second half of 2009 products. Henry also announced that the platform has been certified for use with Windows Vista and took a jab at Intel’s integrated graphics claiming that “small form factor notebook and desktop PCs will have rich media capabilities and full graphics support for the first time.”

The certification means that Nvidia Ion will have WHQL-certified driver support at launch and is also sort of a big deal for OEMs who want to ensure they can advertise Vista compatibility prominently. During his presentation, Drew Henry also demonstrated Windows 7 multi-tasking with the Ion and even played Left 4 Dead at 720p resolution without any noticeable hiccups. Check out the video here.