At CeBit this year, NVIDIA demonstrated a new class of mobile GPU the company is billing as the perfect solution for future mobile solutions. The new Asus K-series of laptops will offer the G102M in its 14" notebook (the 15" and 17" systems will be powered by the upcoming 32 SP G120M. According to NVIDIA's copy, the G102M carries 16 SPs, and up to 512MB of dedicated GPU memory, 1080p decoding and what the company refers to as "casual games" are all supported. Way to define "casual."

NVIDIA doesn't currently have a G102M listed on its official product pages but there's plenty of information on the G105M—a part we can assume is a kissing cousin to this new chip. Interestingly, the G105M is listed as an eight-core processor on NVIDIA's own spec sheet while the G102M is supposedly a 16-core lower-power part. The implication here is that NVIDIA's new effort is running in parallel but at very low speed. In terms of features, the G102M is standard for a part at this end of the market—HD decoding is supported (it's not clear if this implementation is identical to the PureVideo engine offered on higher-end GPUs).

If you're wondering how these new monikers translate back into NVIDIA's standard nomenclature, the company has a helpful conversion table available here. The GeForce 9400M+Ion we've heard so much about, for example, is a GeForce G110M. Currently, the GeForce 9100MG is holding the value segment, but whatever the G102M is, it doesn't appear to be a respin of that part. Best guess at this point is that these new G102M GPUs will be 9400M-class parts that have been binned for low power consumption. Mix in a little additional power reduction logic, yank the core clock down to minimum, and voila—one G102M.

Or maybe not. We'll tell you as soon as news is available. Personally, I'm hoping the G102M is some sort of new product for NVIDIA rather than another refresh of G80 technology. Unfortunately, such parts may be at least a year away.