Nvidia's GeForce 9400M-based Ion platform proposes to bring higher-end features such as DVI video, HDMI, and SATA to the Netbook. (Credit: Nvidia)
Posted on 01/26/2009 8:25:46 AM PST by SunkenCiv
...the Santa Clara, Calif., company is hoping for another coup like the one it staged at Apple, where Nvidia bumped Intel silicon out of the Apple MacBook because of underperforming graphics. The goal this time is to replace the Intel silicon that supports the Atom processor. Currently, Netbooks from companies such as Acer, Asus, Hewlett-Packard, and Dell use the Atom and accompanying Intel silicon called a chipset. Nvidia has always stayed well ahead of Intel on the graphics performance curve... said Jon Peddie of Jon Peddie Research, a firm that tracks the graphics chip market. "First, because Nvidia is in competition with (Intel), and second, because it will allow Netbook makers to build larger-screen Netbooks, which will encroach into the thin-and-light segment, and potentially cannibalize Intel's bigger mobile CPUs," he said... (Nvidia had originally intended to enter the Netbook market with Via Technologies--an announcement made in April--but it later dropped the idea.) "Some of the restrictions Intel has put in place around Atom platforms really zero (in) on deficiencies that the underlying chipset has--the (Intel) 945 chipset," Ragones said. "For example, you cannot pair a GPU with these platforms because of the limitations of PCI Express bandwidth," he said... Nvidia's Ragones also said Netbooks are limited artificially to displays of 10 or fewer diagonal inches... Nvidia doesn't stop there. Ragones claims that its one-chip design is more space-efficient than Intel's two-piece chipset. He also said the GeForce 9400M silicon would offer more robust support for Windows Vista and the upcoming Windows 7 operating system. The price premium over a standard Netbook will not be large, Nvidia claims. Probably no more than $50.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.cnet.com ...
Nvidia's GeForce 9400M-based Ion platform proposes to bring higher-end features such as DVI video, HDMI, and SATA to the Netbook. (Credit: Nvidia)
AMD, HP Combine to Launch 'Yukon' Platform for Ultraportable Laptops
Scott Ferguson
2009-01-06
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by Brad Stone and Ashlee Vance
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Future Intel Atom chip is a yawner--by design
by Brooke Crothers
January 14, 2009
—GeForce 9400M—
So, does this mean that if you plug a hard drive into the little fellow, you might be able to do a little gaming (not Crysis with everything maxed, obviously) but better than nothing?
AMD CEO sees Netbooks going away
by Brooke Crothers
January 22, 2009
It does look like it’s headed in that direction; dunno about loading programs, but it has a USB port, so if it will boot from that, or from the SATA port...
“or from the SATA port...”
That just has to be for an external drive (either HD or optical).
HD Video Playback With A $20 CPU & $30 GPU On Linux
Phoronix | December 11th | Michael Larabel
Posted on 12/16/2008 3:23:09 AM PST by Halfmanhalfamazing
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2149479/posts
-hits on nvidia 9400m site:freerepublic.com-
Apple unveils new MacBook, MacBook Pro, updated MacBook Air models; Updated MacBook
Mac Daily News | 10/14/2008
Posted on 10/14/2008 12:24:37 PM PDT by Swordmaker
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2105476/posts
MacDailyNews presents live coverage
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Posted on 01/06/2009 12:05:01 PM PST by Swordmaker
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2159781/posts
External drive, yes. And SATA is fast (up to 300 megs/sec), so perhaps these cards could be (by someone who is not me) interfaced together via SATA for parallel processing. ;’)
Whoops... make that 300 megabits/sec... [blush]
To see how well it fares opposed to discreet graphics on the same notebook, check out some Mac benchmarks. The MacBook Pro comes with integrated 9400M and a discreet 9600M, switchable (not on the fly yet, that is a disappointment).
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