While the TNT2 has been NVIDIA's bread and butter product in securing contracts with major PC OEM's, the GeForce2 MX represents the changing of the guard. NVIDIA is clearly focused on making transform and lighting enabled graphics cards the mainstream in both the corporate and consumer markets.
With the GeForce2 MX, NVIDIA is attempting to gain market share in the corporate desktop market where long-time leader ATI has dominated. How much of an impact is yet to be determined but according to financial analysts in this report out of SmartMoney Today, NVIDIA's future in this area is bright:
This is going to be a significant expansion opportunity for Nvidia as they continue to gain market share and enter new markets," says Prudential Securities analyst Hans Mosesmann.
This kind of diversification in Nvidia's business could bolster its overall market presence. Morgan Stanley Dean Witter pegs the company's share of the graphics-chip market at 20-25%, but expects that could soon mushroom to 40% based in part on its new products.
And with ATI recenly having announced earnings uncertainly, NVIDIA is in a solid position to capitalize in the corporate market.
Now for our fellow nVIDIOTS out there, the GeForce2 MX makes for an attractive upgrade option for those of you with a RIVA 128, TNT or TNT2. Not only do you get the features mentioned above, but you also get a second generation transform and lighting engine which is most effective for systems containing older processors such as a Pentium 2. And the lower price and new features of the GeForce2 MX makes for a refreshing change.
As of June, the GeForce2 MX has been in volume production and NVIDIA expects graphics cards based on the GeForce2 MX to be available over the next few weeks. There was also no announcement on who will be offering GeForce2 MX graphics cards, but NIVIDA expects them from the major add-in board companies such as Creative Labs, Elsa, and Guillemot (Hercules). Hercules has already announced it's 3D Prophet II MX and Elsa announced their GeForce2 MX.
As for Apple, the GeForce2 MX is NVIDIA's platform which they will use for future work with them, as with laptops. However, the GeForce2 MX will not be offered for the Macintosh.
Update - June 29, 2000: You may also be interested in checking out our question and answer session with Loyd Case who is NVIDIA's Manager of Product Marketing who answers 27 visitor submitted questions. You can check out that article by clicking here.
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