Posts Tagged ‘ion’

Ion netbooks head-to-head: Atom, overcharged?

Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on December 30th, 2009

It's been more than a year since NVIDIA announced its Ion platform, promising to bring HD video and gaming to the underpowered Atom CPU. After all the hold ups, we started to wonder if we'd ever see the platform packed inside a netbook, so imagine our surprise when no less than four Ion-based machines launched in the past few months. With bigger screens, better specs, more graphics muscle and, of course, the resulting higher price tag, each of these Ion machines promises quite a bit, but which one lives up to the hype? We got them all together and spent the past few weeks testing the ASUS Eee PC 1201N, Lenovo IdeaPad S12, HP Mini 311 and the Samsung N510 -- follow on past the break for our complete faceoff.

Gallery: Ion Netbooks Compared

Continue reading Ion netbooks head-to-head: Atom, overcharged?

Ion netbooks head-to-head: Atom, overcharged? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Dec 2009 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MSI Wind Top AE2220 unboxing and impressions

Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on December 28th, 2009

In the land of netbooks and nettops, the tried-and-true all-in-one PC still has a place in this world yet. MSI is living proof of that, with its 21.5-inch Wind Top AE2220 bringing Windows 7, multitouch and an eye-pleasing design to the collective masses. Said machine just started shipping to consumers at the tail end of last month, and we've been fortunate enough to spend a few weeks tinkering with one of the most cost effective AIO options on the market right now. Thankfully for those who enjoy doing anything with relative speed, MSI overlooked the Atom range and went straight for the Core 2 Duo lineup, and for those with a bit of extra coin to spend, there's even an optional TV tuner and Blu-ray drive. Care to see how we felt about this touch-friendly rig after some extended play time? Read on to find out.

Gallery: MSI Wind Top AE2220 unboxing and impressions

Continue reading MSI Wind Top AE2220 unboxing and impressions

MSI Wind Top AE2220 unboxing and impressions originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Dec 2009 08:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Viewsonic VOT132 nettop review

Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on December 24th, 2009

Viewsonic VOT132 nettop review
You don't need booming sales figures to tell you that netbooks have taken over the world -- the mobile computing world, at least. Their screenless and battery-free brethren, however, have yet to find quite the same success. Nettops are great tiny little machines but in general they've been under-powered and, while people love eking out another hour or two of battery life on the road, few sadly care whether their desktop computers pull down 17 or 71 watts of juice. Still, it's hard to deny the appeal of a fully-functional computer that's half the size of a Wii -- especially when it can manage 1080p output over HDMI. Viewsonic's VOT132, with its Ion graphics and trick magnetic DVD drive, is tiny, efficient, and powerful. The perfect media PC? Read on to find out.

Gallery: Viewsonic VOT132 unboxing

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Viewsonic VOT132 nettop review originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 Dec 2009 12:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Next-Gen Nvidia Ion Is Pine-Trail-Compatible, Promises Better Performance [Processors]

Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on December 23rd, 2009

Intel's Pine Trail Atom chips are pretty disappointing in the power department, so it's good to see Nvidia step up with a new, Pine-Trail-compatible line of Ion chips. If you want to watch HD YouTube on a netbook, read on.

We don't know much about the chipsets yet, but here's what we do know. Nvidia has promised better battery life (which was needed), they'll be officially announced at CES, and should ship in early 2010. There's apparently also a bit of smack-talk about Intel's underpowered new Atoms, with Nvidia noting that people want way better graphics performance than Intel seems to think. We'll keep you updated with more detail (including what kind of netbooks will be packing these guys) at CES. [Engadget]




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NVIDIA Ion 2 coming in early 2010, compatible with Pine Trail

Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on December 23rd, 2009

Well, here we go: NVIDIA just gave us the heads-up that its next-gen of Ion (which we'll be calling Ion 2 until it gets a proper name) will be Pine Trail-compatible and arriving in Q1 of 2010. That's good news, seeing as the Pine Trail-based Eee PC 1005PE we just reviewed didn't offer much of a performance benefit over the older Diamondville chips and definitely couldn't bust through the first few seconds of a YouTube HD clip. Though we got NVIDIA to confirm that it'll improve some of the battery life concerns we've had, we couldn't get much out of them in terms of how Ion 2 will play with the Intel GMA 3150 GPU that's now integrated into the Atom N450 die. NVIDIA also didn't hold back when it came to Intel's reliance on third-party HD accelerator chips for video duties -- they think customers want richer gaming and multimedia experiences on netbooks than Atom alone can offer, and they don't seem to care that Intel keeps calling Ion "overkill." All drama aside we're looking forward to just getting some YouTube and Hulu HD playback on our netbooks -- we'll see what NVIDIA has to show off at CES.

NVIDIA Ion 2 coming in early 2010, compatible with Pine Trail originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Dec 2009 20:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Artopz Minitopz Ion-based nettop lamp rains down confusion, wonder

Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on December 20th, 2009

We don't get it. At all. That said, we're totally enamored with this Artopz Minitopz, which manages to both be an impressively-specced Atom and Ion-based nettop, and simultaneously a completly confounding piece of "art." Apparently it's supposed to be perceived as a lamp, but we'd say that stretches the limits of imagination. But it stretches them in a good way, that's all we're saying. Oh, and the Minitopz costs $2,250, just in case you thought you'd penetrated this fog of luxurious gadget oddity to the point of pulling out a wallet. Maybe the video after the break will help clear some things up? Nope, not really.

Continue reading Artopz Minitopz Ion-based nettop lamp rains down confusion, wonder

Artopz Minitopz Ion-based nettop lamp rains down confusion, wonder originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 Dec 2009 23:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS Eee PC 1201N review

Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on December 18th, 2009

Six months ago netbooks all had 10-inch displays, fairly cramped keyboards, and couldn't manage to play a 1080p video even if they trained with the best of marathoners. The world's a lot different now: the King of Pop has passed away, the unemployment rate has dropped, and netbook manufacturers have realized 11- and 12-inch displays provide a more comfortable experience -- especially when paired with more powerful hardware that adds multimedia prowess.

We'll stop there with the Netbook 101, but looking at the past is necessary in realizing what a game-changer the ASUS Eee PC 1201N really is. The 1201N's dual-core Intel Atom processor, NVIDIA Ion graphics, Windows 7 Home Premium, and 2GB of RAM make it the most powerful netbook to ever grace the purchase pages of Amazon. But does the $500 machine fix all the issues and frustrations we've ever had with netbooks when put to the test? Can it make us forget about cramped keyboards, strained eyes and sluggish video performance? Find out in our full review.

Gallery: ASUS Eee PC 1201N Review

Continue reading ASUS Eee PC 1201N review

ASUS Eee PC 1201N review originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Dec 2009 16:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS Eee PC 1201N debuts early at Newegg

Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on December 17th, 2009

OK, kids, here you have it: the Asus Eee PC 1201N has arrived a little earlier than expected. At least we think that's what Newegg is trying to tell us. If you hop on over to the site RIGHT THIS MINUTE you can see that the thing is available for ordering, in black, with a limit of one per customer. It's better than waiting until sometime next month, eh? There's no telling if this is a snafu on the e-tailer's part -- everyone else in the western world has it available for pre-order, with a ship date of January 15 -- but if you feel like taking a gamble there is only one thing left to do: hit the source link.

[Thanks, Yoav E]

ASUS Eee PC 1201N debuts early at Newegg originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASRock ION 330HT-BD nettop goes on sale for $589

Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on December 9th, 2009

If you’re scouting a nettop that’ll hit your doorstep prior to those Christmas bells ringing, you’ll want to look elsewhere. That said, those with plenty of time to spare may want to consider ASRock’s ION 330HT-BD, particularly if you just can’t seem to stop renting Blu-ray Discs from Netflix. The box has just landed on Amazon with a $588.99 price tag and an admittedly frightening “usually ships within 1 to 4 months” warning, and if you’re no fan of BD (liar!), the standard 330HT is in the same boat for $458.99.

ASRock ION 330HT-BD nettop goes on sale for $589 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 09 Dec 2009 10:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NVIDIA Ion 2 already ordered up by Acer?

Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News on December 7th, 2009

If you need yet more reason to delay purchasing a current generation netbook, we're hearing that Acer has eagerly scooped up an order for NVIDIA's Ion 2 chips, which will eventually be found partnering Intel's forthcoming Pineview hardware in machines of the future. With Intel now integrating graphics processing and the memory controller into the CPU packaging, the Ion 2 is expected to serve much more like a discrete GPU than the Ion chipset of today. Plans to support VIA processors are also still firmly in place, should you wish to experience the improved graphics processing outside of the realm of Lord Intel.

NVIDIA Ion 2 already ordered up by Acer? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 07 Dec 2009 06:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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