Asus has been claimed to be not only evaluating Nvidia's Ion platform for netbooks and nettops, but to have also decided to make a machine based on the Atom add-on.

In a story by DigiTimes, industry moles claim in one paragraph that the Eee PC maker is "considering launching" Ion-based netbooks after having received samples of the chipset.

In a second paragraph, the same sources say Asus will launch an Ion-driven Eee Box in Q3.

Can't be doing both, guys. Either it's thinking about launching such a product, or it is launching one. Do or do not - there is no try.

Ion adds Nvidia's 9400GM integrated chipset to Intel's Atom CPU. So far, Acer has committed to releasing an Ion-based nettop, the Revo - it's due in the shops any day now - and Lenovo is preparing an Ion netbook.

Given Ion's ability to deliver a better graphical experience than Intel's GMA 950 graphics core, part of the Atom-standard 945GSE chipset, we'd be very surprised indeed if Asus wasn't taking a look at it. Especially, since Intel's own Ion-alternative, the GN40, seems to have gone off the boil. ®

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