NVIDA have released a computing platform that fits in the palm of your hand, and is capable of playing 1080p HD movies, with 7.1 digital surround sound. The NVDIA ION boards will power Netbooks, Small Form Factor PCs, and we will no doubt see some of them integrated directly in to TV sets.
Specifications
- Intel Atom CPU & NVIDIA GeForce 9400M GPU
- Size: 100 mm x 72 mm (Pico-ITX)
- Power Consumption: 18W
- Max resolution: 2560 x 1600
- Network: 10 / 100 / 1000 Mbps
- Video Out: HDMI / DVI / VGA
I recently retired my home media server as it was using too much power (approx 200 Watts!), so with a typical consumption of less than 20 watts, the new ION platform would make a perfect replacement.
It is rumored that the NVIDIA ION may power a refreshed version of Apple’s Mac Mini, potentially as soon as March 2009, and with Apple’s Snow Leopard OS designed to take advantage of the power of GPU cores for ordinary desktop operations – we may soon see these start to replace large inefficient workstations.
It happened to the laptop market with netbooks, now it’s time for desktops with nettops.