Rumour has it that Nvidia Corp. has managed to win a design with Lenovo to power large-screen netbooks with its GeForce 9400M core-logic that is also known as Nvidia Ion platform. The systems are projected to be available sometimes in the second quarter of the year.

Lenovo plans to launch 11.6” and 12.1” netbooks combining Intel Corp’s Atom processor and Nvidia’s Ion platform (GeForce 9400M chipset with integrated graphics) in the second quarter of this year, according to a Chinese-language Commercial Times report (parts of which were translated by DigiTimes web-site). Both mobile computers will be aimed at consumers and will be made by contract manufacturer Wistron.

In addition to the aforementioned netbooks, Lenovo also evaluates possibility to release a very inexpensive mobile computer based on Intel Atom and Nvidia Ion with 13” screen. Besides, Lenovo is rumoured to be planning a 12” netbook powered by platform from Via Technologies.

After recent shake-up in Lenovo, the company became increasing interested in creating innovative and highly-competitive computers aimed primarily at consumers as corporate segment, the stronghold of IBM’s and now Lenovo’s PC business, is cutting spending greatly. Meanwhile, consumers can be attracted by relatively low prices amid eye-catching feature-set.

Nvidia’s GeForce 9400M core-logic and the Ion platform do have numerous advantages over Intel Corp.’s own chipsets for Intel Atom, in particular, Nvidia’s solution supports DirectX 10 multimedia capabilities as well as hardware accelerated decoding and post-processing of high-definition video. Consumers will hardly play demanding video games or playback high-def video on their netbooks, but they will be attracted by the set of features.

Tags: Nvidia, Intel, Atom, Geforce, Nforce, Ion