The new PCI Express graphics interface hasn't reached desktops, let alone laptops, quite yet, but Nvidia Corp. is ready for the latter: The company says it's partnered with leading portable OEMs -- including Quanta, Wistron, FIC, Uniwill, Clevo, AOpen, Asustek, and Mitac -- to implement Mobile PCI Express Module (MXM), a consistent interface for PCI Express-based notebooks.

According to Nvidia, the open-standard MXM allows a single motherboard design to be leveraged into multiple laptops, supporting a range of graphics solutions from different vendors -- although ATI and Intel haven't endorsed the specification yet -- and speeding time to market for notebooks with state-of-the-art PCI Express graphics. The standard also supports optional user-upgradeable or -replaceable graphics controllers, and will be the main delivery vehicle for Nvidia's next-generation mobile member of its GeForce 6 graphics processor family.