If you’re like me, then you probably have a love/hate relationship with the Atom platform. On one hand, the processor itself is pretty sweet – offering decent performance at a low price point and low power consumption. Yet on the other hand, you have to deal with the crappy Intel integrated graphics that typically comes with the platform. Yes, all you netbook owners out there with Atom processors know what I’m talking about.

This is where NVIDIA’s new Ion platform is so incredibly important. Ion takes the Intel Atom processor and couples it with the GeForce 9400M chipset resulting in a system capable of playing 3D games and high definition video content.

I saw demos of the Ion platform firsthand at CES 2009 last month and I have to admit – I was sold on the idea.

Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to actually benchmark the platform so I had no real idea what to expect performance number wise from the system. Luckily, it appears the NDA for the Ion platform has been lifted resulting in several websites releasing performance reviews of the new platform.

First up, we have the folks from Anandtech who received a white colored reference system from NVIDIA. Here’s a snippet from the review:

“Ion addresses one of Atom’s primary deficiencies – poor graphics performance. It can’t, however, make Atom something it’s not. It’s faster to use Photoshop on Ion than on any of the current Atom platforms, but I still don’t want to. It’s better to play games on the Ion than on a regular Atom system, but it’s not fun to. “

Moving on, the folks at LaptopMag had this to say about the Ion platform:

“Assuming Ion doesn’t take too heavy a toll on battery life, and that it doesn’t add too much to the cost of these very price-sensitive machines, Nvidia’s platform could very well redefine netbooks.”

Finally, there’s a review of the platform over at PC Perspective which has this to say:

“This is not a product that will win over everyone’s heart – gaming is okay, but not great, power consumption is still questionable and costs will go up – but I think more people will give the netbook market a look once they start to see ION-based products hitting the shelves. And of course NVIDIA is not only aiming for the netbook market; I would love to see ION-based platforms show up in larger, lower-cost laptops in the 12-15″ screen size range as well as in basic HTPC designs. ”

Clearly the Ion platform is a good thing for the Atom processor. We’ll get better 3D graphics performance, better video decoding performance, and of course, a better overall PC experience. Graphics and/or video intensive applications will receive a noticeable boost in performance on the Atom platform and even Windows Vista will become usable on the platform.

Yet despite the improvements, there are still questions to be answered – such as pricing and power consumption. However a bigger issue may arise out of the success of the Ion platform. Solving the graphics shortcomings with the GeForce 9400M chipset will ultimately push the focus of the customer back to the deficiencies of the Atom processor. Hopefully this will spur Intel and others to develop higher performing, yet low power and inexpensive processors.

Technorati Tags: NVIDIA Ion, Intel Atom, NVIDIA GeFoce 9400M Chipset