It looks like we will have to wait until late may or early June before we will be able to get our hands on any ASUS or Acer netbooks with next-gen ION inside. The Asus 1201PN is scheduled to be released first in Europe and Asia in late May, and then in June for folks in the US. As for Acer, their Aspire One 532G is set to be released in June some time around Computex this June. Be sure to check back later for review comparisons when they are available.

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The people at Notebookcheck have a pre-release version of Asus’ new Eee PC 1201PN with the second iteration of ION graphics. This netbook scored a 3098 in 3DMark05, which is a nice increase when compared to the 1201N’s score of 2143. The main difference between the 1201N and the 1201PN is the Intel Atom N450 instead of the Atom 330, and the next-gen ION graphics card in place of ION 1.0.  Taking a look at the benchmark results, it looks like this machine is giving core 2 duo based laptops a real run for their money.

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ION Based has been pretty dead for a while, but I am going to attempt to revive this blog with fresh posts about the latest and greatest in the ION world. If anyone wants to help me out with generating content, then please email me at admin@ionbased.com

Thanks,

Neil

Giada Slim N10

“So what ?” – you’ll say – “Another nettop coming from China.” Although this is true, the main characteristic of the “toy” is its weight and size. Weighting just 0,52 kg (without HDD), N10 has all the features of Ion-based nettops: dual-core Atom 330 processor, up to 4GB of RAM, and a 2.5″ hard drive bay. In terms of connections, we can find the usual: 5xUSB2.0 ports, eSATA, VGA, HDMi output, and an Ethernet jack, as well as mic and headphone jacks and a card reader.

Giada N10 Front

Giada N10 Back

The available colours are: white, pink, blue and black. For the moment, there are no details on availability outside China space or price.

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A new Ion-based nettop appeared on the market: Myka ION. Featuring an dual-core Atom N330 processor, up to 4 Gb of RAM and HDDs from 160 Gb to 1 Tb, the nettop has a fanless architecture. In terms of connectivity, no less than 10 USB2.0 ports are available, as well as eSATA, VGA, DVI, HDMI, S/PDIF ports.

Myka ION

Myka ION Back

What’s interesting about this nettop is the intended usage – as a HTPC (home-theater PC). This is reflected by the fanless approach which will insure minimal noise and by the plethora of multimedia-dedicated applications: Boxee, XBMC, Hulu Desktop.

Welcome Screen

In terms of price the base one is $379 (with Ubuntu Linux installed) and will grow based on the different options to be added (WiFi N, bigger HDD, Win7). The expected delivery time varies between 4 to 6 weeks.

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Nvidia just started a contest in order to promote its ION platform. Thus, 12 bundles will go to the most creative and fun material about the Ultimate ION Netbook. Besides the HP Mini 311 the bundles also contain:

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The ION LE chipset was released by NVIDIA a little while ago, and it was virtually the same as the original ION, except for its lack of DirectX 10 support. The marketing strategy was to make the chip cheaper, while at the same time limiting it to only Windows XP systems. Recently, the user runawayprisoner from MyHPMini.com has leveled the playing field and made it possible to run DirectX 10 on an ION LE netbook. Now you can get the full features of ION at a fraction of the cost! The best part is that it is a pretty simple procedure to perform. Simply add the ION LE device id to the driver install INF file then run the installer and poof! Check out the source link for more info on this neat trick.

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Considering the plethora of Ion-based devices launched lately, we might consider Zotac as one of the most enthusiastic fans of Nvidia’s GPU. The PC components maker released a new motherboard serie for Europe.

The new motherboard series – called Synergy Edition – come in the same Mini-ITX format and has two versions – ION ITX-E Synergy (with a single-core Atom 230) and ION ITX-G Synergy (with a dual-core Atom 330).  Besides the usual stuff (DVI/VGA output, HDMI output with digital 8-channel LPCM audio, Gigabit LAN and 6xUSB2.0), there are also 2  DDR2-800 memory slots, one PCI-Express x1 slot, four SATA 3.0Gbps ports and integrated 5.1-channel audio.

Fudzilla managed to find the suggested prices – €119 for the dual-core version and €90 for the single-core version.

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Haleron just announced its line of Ion-based nettops – the H-BOX.

Haleron H-BOX

Featuring a Dual-Core Atom N330 processor and ION graphics, the nettop weighs less than 1kg. Besides that, we find the usual: 2Gb of RAM, 320 Gb of HDD, 5xUSB2.0, HDMI output, Ethernet, audio ports and card reader.

At this point, no information on price and availability were disclosed.

Edit: Price is $459

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We first announced it back in May. Afterwards it was delayed until an undefinite October. Now, Fudzilla announces its release date for 22nd of October, in Japan, at a price of around $757.

As specifications, the ION-based netbook  comes with Atom N270 CPU, 1280×800 display, 2GB of RAM, 250GB HDD, 802.11b/g WiFi, Bluetooth, 1.3MP webcamera, 3xUSB2.0, VGA, HDMI and audio ports and will run on Win 7 Home Premium. Packing a 6-cell battery, its weight will be around 1.55kg.

Lenovo Ideapad S12

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