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Nvidia drives in second-gen Ion

Revamped HD graphics for netbooks

The question is, though, will punters prefer a CULV laptop with a comparable screen to an Ion 2 netbook but a better, dual-core processor? The integrated graphics in a typical CULV machine like, say, Acer's 11.6in Aspire 1810TZ may prove to be less powerful than the Ion 2 GPU, but they can do HD. It will be interesting to see whether vendors can find a price band between standard Atom 2.0 netbooks and Pentium Dual-Core CULV notebooks.

Nvidia Ion 2

Nvidia claims Ion 2 makes for a major performance boost

Or will Ion 2 machines be even more expensive still?

Well, Ion 2 encompasses two forms: one, aimed at 10in netbooks, incorporates eight of Nvidia's Cuda unified shader cores, while the second, designed for 12in netbooks and desktop machines, has 16 cores.

In addition to the Ion 2 chip that notebook makers can have installed on their netbooks' motherboards - and the same board, albeit Ion-less, can be used in Intel-only models - Nvidia has a PCI Express add-in card for desktop design where it makes sense to slot the part in that way rather than bond the GPU onto the motherboard. The card has DVI and HDMI outputs. ®

Nvidia Ion 2

Asus' Eee 1201PN: bigger screen, better GPU - 16 cores not eight

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