Nvidia Ion in Netbooks is what I'm excited about

Long time no post guys but just thought I'd stop by and tell you what I'm excited about in the world of netbooks at the moment and what is set to be the next quantum leap for netbooks since Intel introduced the now ubiquitous Atom processor.

The Nvidia Ion. This Intel/Nvidia collaboration chip has been banded around for a while now at CES and other events but we are now at a stage where we are approaching potential netbook product releases with this chip featured centre stage.

So just what is the Ion?
Well it is designed around delivering something that is missing in Atom powered netbooks and nettops today... graphics performance. So why does my netbook suck when it comes to graphics you ask? Well... its because generally good graphics processors are;

1) expensive

2) power hungry (aka not netbook battery friendly) and

3) BIG (technically chips are small but the auxiliary cooling/circuitry can be large).

It is highly likely your netbook has an onboard Intel GMA graphics chip which is basically enough to 'just get by'.

However, Nvidia has now witnessed the insane growth of netbooks and is stepping in to the arena with the Ion - finally modern games, Full HD movies and OS effects will now operate with congruous fluidity!

An Ion is essentially an Intel Atom N230 central processing unit combined with a Nvidia GeForce 9400 graphics processing unit all in a super-small netbook friendly package!

The product page boasts:

• DirectX 10 Graphics (capable of super modern effects, games and other cool stuff!) - they demo Call of Duty 4 on the site and I must say it looks pretty good.


• 1080p HD Video w/ 7.1 Sound!


• CUDA technology to help with graphics processing in OS applications such as Video encoding or photoshop


• Will integrate well with Windows 7/Windows Vista's flashy Aero interface (window transparency and special effects etc)

Below is a marketing-ey type video for the Ion from Nvidia that shows a snippet of what they claim you can do with Ion - not exactly technical stuff but hey I'm a sucker for pretty marketing material when it comes to shiny new products!

vid via [Acer Aspire Revo].

So when can we get our hands on an Ion powered machine you ask? Well... the first commercial machine is an Acer Aspire Revo - however this machine is a nettop rather than a netbook but excitingly Acer claims it will be priced well under USD500, features HDMI out, Wi-Fi N and SEVEN USB ports! Notably, Gizmodo managed to playback a Blu-Ray movie at great bitrates using a demo machine but pointed out that Flash and Silverlight - the technologies that power video sites like Hulu and YouTube - don't utilise GPU acceleration at all, so performance won't improve on this front.

The Acer Aspire Revo

[Update: I found this interesting article which heavily critiques the Aspire Revo - namely Acer's choice of a weak CPU such as an Atom in a machine where power drain isn't an issue. It suggests that the Celeron would have been a better choice for performance vs cost and I have to agree in this case it probably would be. Especially in a Vista scenario the article suggests that the Revo will be anologous to "... something that moves with the speed of a syphilitic water buffalo wearing leg irons.". However, I see the purpose of this machine as more of a collaborative PR tool for Nvidia and Acer rather than a top notch product in that it pushes the Ion and lets Acer have claim of 'first-to-market' while still producing a relatively cheap and effective computer.]

So who will be the first off the block with netbooks carrying an Ion? Well its anyone's guess but possibly Lenovo will be bringing out 11 and 12" ideapads before not too long - we'll just have to wait and see.

For now I am still using my MSI Wind U100 with Windows 7 Beta and I DO love the setup, however an Ion powered netbook would make me change machines faster than you can say "Open and clear".

Netbooks and Nettops For People Around the World

Wow - was just surfing the internets on my Wind and stumbled across this awesome ad from Intel's YouTube channel promoting the Atom and netbooks... Not sure if you guys have seen this before but seeing as I probably read more about netbooks than most I'm guessing not! How this video slipped under my radar since June '08 is beyond me!

Enjoy! Oh and does anyone know what song this is? 

MSI Wind Bios Update 1.0B

Kia Ora from New Zealand and a very belated Happy New Year to you all!

Besides putting this blog on the backburner for a while I couldn't ignore all the request and internet noise over the new 1.0B bios from MSI for the U100 Wind Netbook. Truth be told there isn't any improvements worth noting, but take it from me - I highly recommend updating to the latest bios as it seems stable and there are minor improvements and fixes that are better to have than not have.

Overclocking has remained (added in bios 1.07) in this update - HOWEVER some people are reporting overclocking not functioning properly on their machines whereby it did using older bioses like 1.09. If this is the case and you REALLY need overclocking then just use my old guide to flash back to 1.09 here. Other people are experiencing a couple of other niggles but this hasn't changed from previous bioses. Please use the Troubleshooter at the end of this guide to... troubleshoot!

Well enough time wasting the guide and package download are below, enjoy.

EV's Guide to Flashing the 1.0B Bios for the MSI Wind in Windows XP and Vista

CAUTION: Although this method is proven to be the most successfully consistent, its not a surefire method and those not willing to take the technical risk of temporarily or permanently screwing up their machine should not proceed. Any issues at any step of the guide please refer Troubleshooting at the bottom. I have endeavoured to keep this up to date with the latest fixes to any problems so please go through the troubleshooting section before reporting errors.

However, this is an official MSI release available on their website and therefore they legally must support any issues you have with the upgrade. Thanks MSI!

Pre-update) Before proceeding ensure that you have the latest System Control Manager (SCM) from the MSI support page here. Many users have reported issues such as speedstep not working properly or the unavailability of Eco mode - all fixed by the latest SCM.

Step 1) As flashing the bios is an inherently risky procedure it is important that you are running on AC power and that your MSI Wind battery is removed to prevent any potential power issues during the update. Shut Down your Wind, remove the battery, and boot to Windows on wall power only.

Step 2) Download this package which contains the 1.0B official bios, and a modified version of the winflash utility for flashing your bios in Windows. 

Step 3) To be safe turn off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and disconnect all peripherals from your Wind. Close any virus scanners or 3rd party firewalls that might inadvertently interrupt or cause errors during the bios flashing process. Program your power button to shut down the machine (rather than standby or hibernate).

Step 4) Unzip the package and create a folder in your C Drive called FLASH. Paste the files from the downloaded package into the FLASH folder.

Step 5) Click the Start button, click Run... and type CMD and press OK. This will launch a DOS-like command prompt in a window. Type CD\ at the prompt to return to the core directory and then type CD FLASH to change to the C:\FLASH directory. Type RUNFLASH to execute the batch file that will update your Bios. Wait patiently for the flash to complete. Once done you will be back at the command prompt in C:\FLASH. Type EXIT. If your keyboard is not working at this stage don't panic, just shut down your computer using your mouse or press your power button.

Step 6) Shut Down your machine and remove the wallpower for 20 seconds.

Step 7) Reinstall the battery and boot your machine to Windows ensuring USB, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Keyboard and Mouse are all functioning. Refer Troubleshooting at the end of this guide if you experience issues during this step. If your computer doesn't boot at all (won't display bios flash screen) and you have additional RAM see the troubleshooting section.

Step 8) Reboot your Wind and enter your bios (Press DEL when you see the MSI splash screen) - navigate to the Advanced tab and where it says DOC you can select between an 8%, 15% and 24% overclock. Also make sure Speedstep is set to Enabled as this will allow your Atom to run at a lower clock when idling.

I advise starting DOC with 8% to make sure that your Wind can handle this overclock and work your way up to 24% (1984MHz c.f. 1600MHz stock) if you wish. Users with upgraded good quality RAM (such as Corsair) will be able to achieve a higher overclock setting with stable results.

Press F10 to save and exit the bios.

Once in Windows, and running on AC Power, pressing Fn+F10 should display 'Turbo On' and your Power LED should turn Orange. You are now running an overclocked Wind!

Note: As an added bonus when running on Battery Power and pressing Fn+F10 for Eco Mode you power LED will turn green. So now you can tell whether you are in Eco, Normal or Turbo modes just by looking the power LED color!

Troubleshooting:

- Did you install the MSI SCM as I said above step 1? Download it here and install it - you may have to uninstall your previous SCM first.

- If your Wind doesn't boot try disconnecting all power sources (battery, wallpower) for 20 seconds (preferably more - like 10 minutes) or holding down the Power button for 10 seconds with AC Power connected.

- If you have additional RAM and your Wind won't boot, you probably need to disable Onboard Memory in the bios. You can display the bios splash screen by holding down Esc and pressing the power on button. You will still need to press Del once you see the MSI splash screen. Alternatively try removing the additional RAM module and booting into the bios (press DEL when the MSI splash screen appears). In the Advanced tab ensure that Onboard Memory is disabled then reinstall your additional RAM and reboot.

- Try enabling/disabling AHCI in bios.

- Try pressing F9 in Bios to restore optimized default settings.

- If you don't see the 'Turbo On' icon (as per the pic in this post, except without a fast looking mouse) then you probably need to install the System Control Manager from MSI's support site here.

- Got Vista? Disable UAC (User Account Control) to solve the driver not found issue.

- Bluetooth not going? Try rebooting several times, this reportedly makes it come right in many circumstances.

- Refer MSI Wind Forums if these methods don't work.

Tidings!!

A big Merry Christmas (a tad early I know) and Happy New Year to all you readers and subscribers alike! 

Mucho apologies for the big gap in posts, the reason for which you might have read about here... Unfortunately this has been compounded by my travelling and temporary relocation to another country, Christmas rush and present buying and other serious financial issues around my personal solvency due to the dead job market in the financial sector (my specialisation)!

So, the long and the short of it is I'm not going to be able to provide ongoing cutting edge netbook news and analysis due to my personal situation, at least in the short term.

I did find this cool chart though (you may have already seen) which shows which netbooks run various elements of OS X. This is essential for anyone considering creating a mini macbook for Christmas getaways. Click below for full size!

Apple is missing out on netbooks says MacWorld editor

MacWorld editor, Peter Cohen, wrote that Apple is "missing an opportunity" on netbooks and now after playing with an Eee PC he says that the Eee is a "good second car". We love the pic above - the Eee PC is dwarfed by the 17" MacBook Pro, it gives a great sense of scale for portability's sake.

The 1000HA he tested was found to give a "remarkably good user experience" that gets you around town "economically and conveniently". This Apple pundit thinks that now more than ever Apple is still missing out on a popular and important market segment by refraining from netbooks for whatever reason. 

Peter puts in best when he says " I’d love to see something in the form-factor of an Eee PC that’s descended from the DNA of the iPhone.". So would we Peter, c'mon Steve, give us what we want!

MacWorld via Netbook Tech