Here’s more good news for Nvidia. According to DigiTimes, the company has already started getting orders for its next-gen Ion 2 graphics processor. The customer? None other than Acer, which became the world’s second-biggest PC vendor last quarter.
Crediting "sources from PC makers" for the tip, DigiTimes says Ion 2 will support Intel’s second-generation Atom processors for netbooks and nettops. These new Pineview Atoms will have built-in graphics cores and memory controllers, so an auxiliary chipset would be a tad redundant. Reportedly, though, the Intel incarnation of Ion 2 "will resemble and act more like a discrete GPU."
DigiTimes goes on to say Nvidia hasn’t given up on its plan to release a version of Ion or Ion 2 tailored for Via processors, and that product will indeed be a proper chipset. Nvidia has been promising such a product since April 2008, though, so we wouldn’t necessarily hold our breath.
In any case, backing from a major player like Acer could help Ion 2 products gain popularity. DigiTimes mentions that Acer’s Ion-powered AspireRevo nettops have "so far enjoyed strong sales."
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