Nvidia promises that PC makers will start to deliver small and slim Vista PCs based on Ion this summer, for as little as US$299, said Brown.

Nvidia has already released Windows 7 drivers for Ion, said Brown. He declined to comment on when Ion would be certified for Windows 7. is based on Vista but is widely reported to require fewer system resources than its predecessor.

While most focus has been on Ion's potential to boost netbooks, Nvidia said Wednesday at a press conference in Taiwan that its first confirmed Ion customer is an unnamed PC maker that plans to build a mini-PC.

Lao said Ion will enable mini-PCs using dual-core Atom CPUs to close much of the performance gap with larger desktop models. And because the Atom and GeForce chips are so efficient and generate so little heat, PC makers can avoid the use of cooling fans, which will allow for smaller, sleeker designs than Apple Inc.'s Mac Mini -- at a lower price, he said.

Acer Inc., , also said this week that it was considering using Ion in its PCs this year.