The future of the personal computer appears to be at stake as, according to Cnet, Nvidia plans to fight a battle with Intel over the future of the cut-price netbook. As the rivalry between the two intensifies, the competitive backdrop remains the same - Intel's longstanding vision of a CPU-centric universe, versus Nvidia's belief that graphics processing is of immense significance in a multimedia-intensive world.

Only a couple of miles from each other in Santa Clara, California, Intel and Nvidia have never really seen eye to eye; and the emergence of the netbooks - small, lightweight laptops priced below $500 - has only made things worse.

Inside the netbooks of Acer, Asus, Hewlett-Packard, and Dell, there is an Intel silicon core; a CPU; and GPU, in the form of the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950. Nvidia contends that Intel-only Netbooks choke on high-quality multimedia content and, more sooner than later, consumers will demand better graphics hardware, as the Netbook increases in size from around 8-inch to 10-inch diagonal screen sizes and beyond.

Intel, which has fairly strict parameters for the Netbook, would not like Atom-based systems with 12-inch screens or extra silicon that kicks thermals into laptop territory, because it opines that the Atom processor is not nearly as capable as a Core 2 Duo.

On the other hand, Nvidia believes that Atom is a fairly capable processor, but it only lacks a capable graphics engine. Nvidia obviously feels it would be a wizard wheeze if it could provide a GeForce 9400M attached to Atom. Recently, it showed off a 1080p video with a GeForce 9400M graphics assist to the Atom processor.