we aren't even two weeks past the announcement of switching to nVidia. Expecting us to be shipping a completely new design is not based in any kind of reality.
The switch to a new system design means a completely new motherboard and the only thing that is kept from the old design is a bunch of the software. Once schematics are done, then PCB layout needs to happen. Once PCB layout is done, then prototypes can be made along with mechanical samples. We build our mechanical proof of concept plastics in house with our 3D printing hardware. Once that is done soft-tooling is made to build prototypes. Soft tooling takes a couple of weeks. Once prototypes are done, we can then submit to safety labs for FCC/UL/CE. Once that is approved, hard tooling is made. None of this has had any impact on our 4K content work which is continuing towards a September launch of the 4K channel
You can't simply change the entire architecture of a motherboard and just simply drop in a new chip, it doesn't work that way. This is a completely new design from the ground up.
The original housing does not work with the new board as we have different layout requirements and a new antenna design for the improved wireless components being used.
The company felt it would be very detrimental to go into production with a product that was going to be replaced in a couple of months, and many of our customers would demand a refund on the previous product and based on the support issues surrounding that meant we decided to push out the product until the much improved version was ready to go to market.
I had the first version of the nVidia based motherboard in my hands on Thursday which in itself is incredibly amazing. We have a dedicated team that has been working 20 hour days 7 days a week for the past two weeks in an effort to move to a completely new design, however, people need to exercise some patience and reality with the switch to a new design and have realistic goals about the product development cycle.
