Nvidia did exhibit the new Ion platform at the CES 2009, although there are no released netbooks or setop boxes using the Ion yet. The NVIDIA Ion platform holds some serious promise with the Intel Atom CPU bundled with an NVIDIA GPU.
Tom's Hardware triggered a new round of Apple Mac mini rumors by claiming that they heard that Apple would adopt the Nvidia Ion for the new Mac mini version. AppleInsider counters that saying that it is more likely that Apple will use NVIDIA Ion for new Apple TV versions as the Ion would be a performance downgrade from the currently available Mac mini computers.
Earlier rumors point to more potent Mac mini boxes and not boxes that compete in the Atom powered Desktop computer segment.