Nvidia has identified both the netbook computer and Windows 7 running on netbooks as key elements in a major corporate initiative for 2009.

To that end, Nvidia released Windows 7 beta drivers this week for the Ion Netbook chipsets that it is giving to it’s netbook-manufacturing customers. In a coordinated effort, Nvidia demonstrated this week, in Taiwan, applications running on Windows 7. The new Nvidia Ion chipset is based on Nvidia’s GeForce 9400M graphics chipset, which currently manages the graphics on Apple’s line of MacBook laptops.

What Nvidia is trying to do is nothing less than replace the chips now sold by Intel to support graphics on the Intel Atom processor with it’s own silicon, while at the same time trying to make netbooks perform more like laptops. Dan Vivoli, an Nvidia senior vice president, poses the following question: “Why would you buy a small notebook and not expect it to do what a PC can do?”

Intel, of course, is fighting back. They recently introduced the new Atom N280 processor and chipset that for first time (at least on an Intel-based Atom system) can run 720p high-definition video. That is the current minimum industry requirement for graphics chips that can run larger mainstream laptops, according to a CNET article. That is also the territory that Nvidia is trying to take with the Ion chipset.

Nvidia, of course, is a graphics chip specialist and will not be satisfied with the minimums. Instead, they will want to shoot higher. That seems to be especially important in this case, since Nvidia has not played a large part in graphics for small devices in the past. This strategy therefore represents an area of major growth potential for the company.

And Nvidia is not alone. Vivoli says, “In all the years I’ve been here I’ve never seen a product generate more excitement than Ion. At Microsoft, at Apple. Everybody we expose it to says we had no idea you could get this kind of experience on a platform this small and this inexpensive.”

Nvidia could ride the netbook trend into the future, partially by being a better answer than is Intel for the burgeoning netbooks graphic marketplace. Microsoft also seems to be determined to be a part of the netbook future, making it another logical piece to the puzzle, though the Ion chipset will need to provide excellent Linux support as well. If all goes perfectly, Nvidia could be the big winner in a netbook marketplace that was pioneered by Intel.

Related:

Entry was posted on Sunday, February 15th, 2009 at 4:18 pm under High Definition Formats, Intel, Microsoft, Notebook.

Read more entries by Michael W. Jones.
Stumble It!