Separately, graphics vendor Nvidia on Wednesday said it has released beta drivers that make its Ion netbook platform compatible with Windows 7. Nvidia's release of beta drivers could bring full high-definition 1080p video capabilities to Windows 7. It could also enable better multimedia capabilities, like photo editing and gaming, than what is usually found on netbooks.

"We have released beta drivers for Windows 7 to our customers for them to begin design/development of Ion-based systems now," said Ken Brown, an Nvidia spokesman, in an e-mail.

Nvidia and Microsoft demonstrated several applications running on the Ion netbook with Windows 7 at an event in Taiwan on Wednesday. The officials showed 1080p high-definition video while simultaneously transcoding another HD video clip.

Nvidia did not comment on specifics related to the driver. Microsoft did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Graphics vendor Nvidia is trying to get a piece of the emerging netbook market with Ion. No Ion-based netbooks are available yet, but Nvidia says it is working with PC makers to bring "mini-notebooks" to users at prices as low as US$299.