TechReport spotted some new models from Zotac during the craziness at CES, including the system above – clearly marked as running Pinetrail + GT218. Yep, that’s the NVidia GPU which has reportedly mutated into the Ion 2 “chipset.”

It’s too bad there are a couple downsides to this picture. One, the socket is totally covered and there’s no view which shows whether or not that’s a mini-PCIe slot under there. Two, the label also clearly says “non-working.”

From what I’ve seen over the years on other laptop designs, it’s entirely possible that there is, in fact, a socket and an expansion card under that HSF. It’s also entirely possible that this particular unit at CES didn’t have anything under it.

Bottom line: Ion 2 is still “coming soon,” but at least OEMs are obviously ready to ship it once it’s ready.