So why pick an ION machine for your HTPC?
Here is what Wikipedia has to say about the ION:
Nvidia Ion is a system/motherboard platform that includes Nvidia’s GeForce 9400M (MCP79) chipset, DDR3-1066 or DDR2-800 SDRAM, and the Intel Atom processor. The original reference platform was based on a Pico-ITXe motherboard designed for netbook and nettop devices. In February 2009, Microsoft certified the Ion-based platform as Vista-capable. The small form factor Ion-based computers were released in the early summer of 2009, with the recommended retail price starting at $299.99. Ion systems are DirectX 10.0 and OpenGL 3.2 capable. This allows playback of full 1080p high-definition video with true-fidelity 7.1 surround sound audio output with VDPAU or the Third Generation PureVideo HD feature. Ion systems can also use CUDA (Nvidia’s General-Purpose Computing on Graphics Processing Units technology), as well as OpenCL. ION LE based systems share the same basic hardware as ION but lack Vista and DirectX 10 support.
So let’s see if I can summarize this:
- Built on GeForce 9400M chipset
- Allows for small form factor
- Low power consumption
- Full 1080p Playback
- 7.1 Surround Sound
- VDPAU, PureVideo HD, CUDA, & OpenCL
- DirectX 10 support
- OpenGL 3.2
- Low cost machines (~$300)
This combination of the ION and Atom processor makes the perfect combination for a home HTPC. Testing with the Acer Aspire Revo has show great results with 1080p mkv playback, 1080p flash video, Hulu, Live TV (3 HD recordings at the same time), Netflix, and much more. If you care to read about the great success that I have had with the Aspire Revo head over to http://www.revohtpc.com. The best thing is that these machines aren’t going to set you back a fortune and they have great flexibility and expandability for the future.
