Learn Moregraphics chip inside, arrived in our offices today. But how good is it?

For months you’ve been hearing that Ion will improve graphics performance on mini-notebooks and offer better [...]]]> It’s here, and it could redefine netbooks. The HP Mini 311, with Nvidia’s Ion LE Graphics chips are responsible for processing all images sent to your computer?s display.

Learn Moregraphics chip inside, arrived in our offices today. But how good is it?

For months you’ve been hearing that Ion will improve graphics performance on mini-notebooks and offer better HD video playback, but now we have some hard data. We’re in the process of testing the Mini 311 for our full review, and the first test results are in. Let’s compare Ion’s scores to those of the average netbook with Intel’s graphics, as well as more expensive ultraportables powered by Intel’s ULV processor.

We started with PCMark 05, which measures overall application performance in Windows XP. The Mini 311 notched a score of 1,917 on PCMark05, which is almost 500 points above the current netbook average of 1,423. The highest netbook score we’ve ever seen in that test is 1697 for the Dell latitude 2100 ($394.00). Once we get in Ion netbooks that run Windows 7 ($119.99), we’ll do a direct comparison with ULV-based ultraportables using the PCMark Vantage benchmark.

The MIni 311 produced an even more impressive score in 3DMark06, which measures graphics performance: 1,386. That showing is over 1,200 points above the netbook average. The only netbook to beat this score was the ASUS N10Jc, and that had switchable Nvidia graphics. The only other system that comes close is 256 points away, the AMD-powered Gateway LT3103u.

via HP Mini 311 First Test Results: Is Ion Worth It?.