It was probably the strangest wedding I've ever attended. There was no bride, nor groom, the music was nonexistent yet, yet, they kept mentioning marriage. There was a kiss but it wasn't on the lips. It was, instead, a press conference with Nvidia and Via claiming marriage. What they really mean is that they've signed a MOU, or memorandum of understanding. They've got a partnership, not a merger. It's probably a good thing that they've got modern laws to back them up because in the dark ages a marriage was not a partnership but instead the husband bought the wife and owned her. I do wonder who owns whom in this relationship?

The big excitement is, of course, about the Mini-ITX 2.0 which is a set of open standards for the next mini-ITX boards based on x86 technology. Some of the basic requirements to meet this standard are an x86 processor, 2GB DDR2 SDRAM, Directx 10 graphics with an add on card, 2 serial ATA II slots and 1 IDE (PATA) slot, 1GB LAN port, 4 USB 2.0 ports, 1 VGA port and 1 HDMI port in an add on card format, and a 16-lane PCI express slot.

What this means is that you can add on a graphics card and bring the subnotebook up to the level of a regular PC graphics playing HD video and supporting game play.

The demonstration was, sadly, the same action movie everyone has been playing at Computex this year. I do begin to wonder if Computex was required to license a movie and for HD playback and only purchased a set of licenses for one movie. From 'wow!' to cliché in three days - a new achievement.

However, what should be noted is that the playback of both the movie demonstrated and the game seemed decent enough if you were looking at it on a desktop. This makes it an achievement in a 17cm x 17cm sized board.

So the question is, why? Why would Nvidia spend so much time and money on a partnership with Via, a very small company in comparison. Well, basically the cost is quite low and Via gains quite a lot by adding just one small port to allow higher end graphics on their board.

It probably cannot begin to compete with AMD's new integrated onboard graphics but it really opens up options for the small form factor subnotebooks and mobile internet device makers. They can provide real graphics in a small package. X