[GaryT]

I must say it looks promising and dayum small! Not sure how it would fair with XBMC but it promises 1080 playback and has connections out the wazoo. Oh yes, it will fit in your shirt pocket - well almost!

I suspect it's likely better suited to 720 playback but still, more than adequate for most.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/158764/ha...tform.html

[kizer]

I guess we will see in June according to the video.

[TomJensen]

I think the PCWorld piece is pretty clueless regarding the Ion--then again, PCWorld isn't exactly a hardware site. They run WorldBench, which is a general-purpose benchmark that tests for every possible computing activity then glommed the whole thing up in an idiot-box number, and the video reviewer dude was talking about it in terms of gaming performance. Like, what?! And really, do I give a rat's ass about Vista Performance Index?

We already know what the Ion platform is: the same Atom 1.6GHz chip (dual-core version) + Nvidia 9400M that's in the Mac Pro. For CPU power, it is not going to be any faster than the current 330 chip. It is not a general-purpose computer, and it isn't a gaming box. What it is designed for is to play HD media, specifically 1080p media, which current Atom solutions can't do. The best part about it is that it is a full-fledged computer in a really tiny package, that you can use for almost any application.

Knowing Nvidia, they will want a hefty premium, so an Atom board with this will likely push the $150-200 mark. With the case, we'll probably looking at $300 for a barebone. That's still in line with the current Atom nettop solutions (Asus EEEBox is $300), although hopefully a number of vendors will sign on and drive the price down.

[krypt2nite]

I'm actually pretty excited about this. Just think down the road, we will have small, quiet, HTPC boxes we can put anywhere, and have the power to do anything modern. Very exciting. Hopefully once the technology gets cheaper and more utilized, we will have very inexpensive netboxes.