Digital Home Thoughts: HD on a Netbook? It's Within Reach.

"However, the Broadcom chip does work with content stored on the netbook itself, and can improve performance of WMV, MPEG2, MPEG4, and MOV files. So, we played a few files on both Mini 10s, as well as on an HP Mini 311 ($399.99), and recorded the frame rates using Fraps."

NVidia says that ION is a great way to make netbooks perform. Intel says that its overkill, and you only really need some video acceleration. Well, Laptop Magazine tries a very unscientific test to see if the Broadcom HD Accelerator is all that is missing from the netbook experience. Once Flash 10.1 better supports all the accelerators out there, it will come down to whether 3D and gaming is important to you. I am in the more is better camp. I think the battery life sacrificed is worth the extra capabilities, as I firmly believe that 3D can offer more capabilities, and raising the minimum bar will allow for greater creativity. Not quite the same kind of leap as going from a text based interface (remember the days of dumb terminals?) to a graphical interface, but a step forward in the right direction.