Nvidia ION Handheld - Opinions?

[ninjamonkey]

I think it would be fun maybe to make something that sort of competes with the pandora. But, I really only had personal use in mind and I would probably make one or help make one for each person who helped.

Edit: Did anyone pay attention to that quote I edited into my last post. It said the ION might no even be released. Nvidia produced small numbers of them to demo the chipsets are going to be powering their netbooks of next year.

[bicostp]

No, they're going to release it one way or another.

If they can't stop fighting with Intel, they'll slap a similar VIA chip on there. (They may actually be buying Via, if rumors are to be believed.)

[ninjamonkey]

You know you could also just buy a pico mobo, and slap an itel atom and nvidia 9400 chip on it and would be the samething. Just sooner than the real one would be released. OO and I opt for a clam shell design if this ion handheld is possible.

Edit: the board the ION is built on is already released. The only tweaks need would the CPU(Atom) and the GPU (Nvidia 9400 graphics chip).

[XCVG]

The ION board is just a limited-production testbed, but ION also refers to the chipset and platform (like Spider or Dragon). Obviously you're not going to see that exact board in a netbook.

[palmertech]

Nothing you build with this will compete with the Pandora. This idea would be at least 5-6 times as large, and be lucky to get 3 hours of battery life. The pandora, in comparison, has 10.

If you are looking for a console that you can put in your pants pocket without being MC Hammer, then the Ion is not for you.

Clamshell would not be smart, it would be huge.

And you cannot just slap a 9400 on a Via board. I have one, I know. There is simply no way to upgrade their GFX chipset. You also cannot just "slap an atom" into it.

Ninjamonkey, I am not trying to be mean to you, just let you know that what you are imagining is impossible. Even what we were thinking ( A "handheld" the size of our "portables") would take at least $300-500 to build in parts alone, then countless hours spent building it.

[nevermind1534]

The atom isn't a cpu that you can just change out; it's soldered onto the motherboards.

[bicostp]

I wonder how it would look with no face buttons and a 1024x600 widescreen...

Nothing you build with this will compete with the Pandora.

But the Pandora falls into the previously mentioned "dismissed as a toy" category. Never mind the fact that this is a full-featured x86 PC, and would be the mother of all PDAs with Tablet PC Edition.

This idea would be at least 5-6 times as large

No.

OpenPandora: 5.5" x 3.27" x 1"

The measurements I posted: 5.5" x 3.5" x 1"

I believe those dimensions are realistic because the motherboard is small, screens are small (OLEDs especially), and the required parts seem to fit in it.

and be lucky to get 3 hours of battery life. The pandora, in comparison, has 10.

Yes, battery life could be an issue. As I said, lithium batteries would be mandatory, and deep processor cycling on both the CPU and chipset will help.

And you cannot just slap a 9400 on a Via board. I have one, I know. There is simply no way to upgrade their GFX chipset. You also cannot just "slap an atom" into it.

The 9400M is an integrated nothbridge/southbridge/GPOU chipset, not specifically a dedicated GPU. VIA makes more than chipsets, they do make their C7 x86 processors, which are slow but power efficient. And yes, they are working on a version of their Ion system for VIA x86 CPUs.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/nivi ... this-year/

Ninjamonkey, I am not trying to be mean to you, just let you know that what you are imagining is impossible. Even what we were thinking ( A "handheld" the size of our "portables") would take at least $300-500 to build in parts alone, then countless hours spent building it.

The concept in the first post would be a commercial product to sell for about $500-$650, around the same price as the Asus N10j, which has essentially the same hardware.

[vskid]

I wonder how it would look with no face buttons and a 1024x600 widescreen...

iPod Touch: Supersize Edition?
Thats actually a pretty good idea. 1 or 2 face buttons would probably be required (right and middle click, unless you can just tap and hold).
I would take bic's concept over a Pandora any day. As nice as the Pandora looks, an ION handheld would run Windows, thus it could run almost anything, no screwing around required.
I'm hopefully going to get a job soon, so I'll soon have funding. If the ION board of pico-itx size becomes available for a decent price (~$300), I will build one of these.

[XCVG]

You also cannot just "slap an atom" into it

Actually, it is possible but insanely difficult to use an Atom with a Core 2 Duo chipset. By insane I mean ultramicro soldering and rewriting a bios. Possible but not by a normal human.

Also my concept may be huge but it has better controls. Have any of you tried to play an FPS with JUST a touch screen? Platformer? Anything?

[palmertech]

@Bicostp: All good points, I stand corrected. When I said you cannot slap it into a Via board, I meant by homebrew means.

@XCVG: I think they have different instructions sets as well, so I doubt it would be possible under any circumstances.

Has anyone taken a peek at the macbook air logic board? It is pretty darn small.

[bicostp]

Also my concept may be huge but it has better controls. Have any of you tried to play an FPS with JUST a touch screen? Platformer? Anything?

Yes, a Pocket PC port of Doom. It's PAINFUL.

But that's why I wrote this in the first post:

Instead of built-in controls, it could snap into different cradles that connect via the dock port. There could be one for gaming that adds PS2 style controls to it (replacing the analog sticks with something similar to the PSP's more pocket friendly analog thing), and one that adds a thumb-size keyboard like the Samsung Q1's.

[/quote]



Want gaming controls? Add the controller shell! Want a Treo 650 style keyboard? Add the keyboard shell! Don't want either? Use as-is!

Just the fact that the OQO 2+ exists means this could happen.

When I said you cannot slap it into a Via board, I meant by homebrew means.

Oh. Yes, that's virtually impossible.

[ninjamonkey]

Curious would it be possible to take a net book or a UMPC and solder a new graphics chip on to it? and overclock it?

[bicostp]

Overclock? Maybe. I've read some reviews of the Asus N10 where they pushed the Atom to 1.8-2.0 ghz. (Though they could be full of it.)

Add a new GPU? Nope.

[palmertech]

No.

If you want good graphics performance on a decently priced netbook right now, take a look at this, it has an Nvidia 9300M 256mb graphics accelerator: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6834220386

Actually, there IS a way: Use that only released in Australia PCMIA to PCI-Express adapter with a good graphics card, then route the output to replace the normal VGA output. Power hungry, expensive, large, though, not a good solution.

[jjhammerstein]

http://www.toradex.com/En/Products/Robin_Z530_Z510

That's another consideration. It's even SMALLER!
I honestly know NOTHING about graphics, but it seems like this would be plenty powerful to run a tiny dedicated emulation handheld for N64 and older.