nVidia’s Ion - The Outsider Beats Intel with Its Own Processor

I am one of those people, who go against the popularly held idea, that making things smaller is making them better. It is rarely that something that is made smaller works as well, in every sense, as the original larger part replaced. I am reminded of cars, amongst other things. The old line Jay Leno used was about older cars versus the newest of the day. The explanation was that an accident that would render a new car a total constructive loss would be little to nothing in an older, better built car. He used the example of his ‘58 Buick, complete with full metal dash. He’d say that though the newer car was totaled, the Buick would simply need the spatter wiped off the dash, and would then be ready for a new owner. Not quite true, but the principle is usually correct.

This is not always true, however, and when so, I am fully willing to admit to progress with reduction in size. The nVidia Ion platform is just that. More than that, it uses the Intel Atom processor, and mates it to some really powerful, really efficient silicon from the company with the eerie green logo.

The major complaint of the Intel Atom mini-ITX boards has been that the 945 chipset uses more power, and dissipates more heat, than the processor on the board. It is especially disconcerting when the user realizes that the video power, in usual Intel fashion, leaves much to be desired.

nVidia has made the jump to small in a big way! The Ion platform is a pico form factor board, much smaller than the mini-ITX Intel with the same CPU. The nVidia board also is capable of decoding hi-definition video at reasonable CPU utilization rates. These boards will start being found in all manner of devices, I would imagine. I can see one in my house, being used as a very high performance router and print spooler. More mobile types will start building these into cars, for complete access when coupled with a decent broadband card. The largest use will no doubt be the sub-notebook PC, which will now have the power to supplant the larger models of laptops for all but the most fussy users.

some pictures from AnandTech

yes, that’s a human hand!

tiny, and powerful!

built into a box by nVidia

Where can you imagine one of these mighty mouse computers residing in your life? The AnandTech site shows the nVidia box compared to a Mac Mini, and the nVidia is only about 85% as large – I can see one of these built into a flat screen panel for children, with a wireless keyboard and mouse, allowing the panel and speakers to be on the wall, away from everyday harm, and allowing younger and younger users of the computer.

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