Intel has released an anti-NVIDIA Ion document titled “Nvidia Ion Competitive Position Guide”. The document presents three key arguments against Ion platform adoption. Intel’s first argument against Ion platform is that it is derived from old MCP79M/NCP7A chipset family and is not newly designed chipset. The second point that Intel makes against Ion is more power consumption and addition of unnecessary cost to system’s Bill of Material. The last argument put forward by Intel is that window of opportunity for Ion is very short as Intel will release Pineview processor lineup in Q4 2009, which will combine Atom processor with graphics core on the same die.

Lets debunk the above three point that Intel made against NVIDIA’s Ion platform. Intel uses 945GSE chipset that was designed almost 4 years back for laptops. Intel adopted the chipset to work with Atom processor for netbooks, making the first point of old MCP79M/NCP7A chipset irrelevant.  Also, the overall footprint of Ion chipset is smaller than 945GSE chipset, as a result of which it is perfect for use in small sized devices like netbooks and nettops. 

In the second argument Intel points out that Ion will decrease the battery life and increase cost of the device. Well Intel might be right, but devices built with Ion will be capable of playing 1080p video and basic video games that 945GSE chipset can’t handle. In fact, Intel’s next generation chipset GN40 that will be released later this year will only be able to play 720p video and almost no modem video games. With $50 increase in cost you will get a netbook that Intel won’t be able to match till late 2010.

The Pineview processor will combine Atom CPU with IGP on same die, this will definitely decrease the footprint of the chipset but will it increase performance. The IGP that Intel will use in Pineview is the same IGP that it will release on GN40 chipset later this year. How big a different combining CPU and GPU on single die will make is everyone’s guess. We think it will improve battery life but won’t make much difference in overall performance of the system.

With this document Intel has actually proved NVIDIA’s CEO Jen-Hsun Huang right. Huang said in an interview about Intel’s lawsuit against NVIDIA that, “NVIDIA is not able to understand why Intel took the hostile action of filing a lawsuit, even though NVIDIA hasn’t announced any disputable products” Huang further added that he believes the trigger point to the disagreement appears to have been NVIDIA’s announcement of the Ion platform for Intel Atom processor.

In short, the whole story is, Intel doesn’t want to lose its hold on netbook market and is doing everything in its power to keep competition away.
[Via Fudzilla]