Softepedia reported that Apple’s next Mac mini will be using NVIDIA’s Ion platform, which pairs NVIDIA’s 9400M system controller and integrated GPU with Intel’s low power Atom processor. The GPU is capable of full HD video decoding and also supports Nvidia’s CUDA technology for more general purpose computing. Pairing up with the 9400M is Intel Atom 330 processor. The Atom 330 runs at a clock speed of 1.6 GHz on a 533 MHz front side bus and has two times the execution resources and L2 cache as the Atom 230.
Given the smaller size of Ion, Tom’s Hardware predict that the new Mac mini will be physically more compact than the existing model. Obviously the optical drive (or rumored dual-drive alternative setup) will limit just how much the mini can be miniaturised. They suggest somewhere in the $500 to $700 range for the price (while NVIDIA themselves have previously indicated they expect Ion-based devices to start at $400).
