Despite ION's graphical capabilities, it has had limited success due, Nvidia says, to for its Atom CPU when paired with Intel's graphics chip.

ION LE doesn't solve that dilemma, but it will enable netbook makers to release XP-based netbooks that perform as well or better than Windows 7 netbooks at a cheaper price, Wuebbling said. That's mostly due to Microsoft's lower price for Windows XP than Windows 7.

Wuebbling declined to give a price for ION LE. He said the platform will be available only to PC makers, not to motherboard makers offering boards to hobbyists building their own PCs, although that could change depending on demand.

But he said to expect lower prices for netbooks and net-tops mainly because of Windows XP's lower cost.

Nvidia, however, won't restrict the screen sizes of netbooks using ION like Microsoft and , he noted.