Two more vendors have been added to the growing list of companies manufacturing nettops based on the Nvidia Ion platform, with both ASRock and Pegatron unveiling new pieces of hardware at a press conference this week. ASRock introduced the ION 330, an entry-level unit designed by them but manufactured by Pegatron, while the latter also introduced a model of their own in the form of the Pegatron Cape 7.


Neither unit has much information available, but we do know the ION 330 will not be making use of the single-core Atom CPU that most vendors will be offering. Instead, ASRock will pair the Nvidia GPU with the dual-core Atom 330, a 1.6GHz part which became available towards the end of last year. The tradeoff between increased power consumption and increase performance will be less noticeable on a nettop, and may play into ASRock’s favor. I wouldn’t be surprised to see other nettop vendors moving towards dual-core Atom offerings as well.


Details on the Pegatron Cape 7 remain unknown, including processor model and other hardware specifications, but reports suggest this will become an OEM/ODM design for other companies to sell under their own brand. Interestingly, during the conference, Nvidia also claimed that over 40 Ion-powered netbooks, nettops and all-in-one PCs are scheduled to launch by the end of this year.