NVIDIA Shows Off "Optimus" Switchable Graphics For Notebooks

Vigile writes "Transformers jokes aside, NVIDIA's newest technology offering hopes to radically change the way notebook computers are built and how customers use them. The promise of both extended battery life and high performance mobile computing has seemed like a pipe dream, and even the most recent updates to 'switchable graphics' left much to be desired in terms of the user experience. Having both an integrated and discrete graphics chip in your notebook does little good if you never switch between the two. Optimus allows the system to seamlessly and instantly change between IGP and discrete NVIDIA GPUs based on the task being run, including games, GPU encoding or Flash video playback. Using new software and hardware technology, notebooks using Optimus can power on and pass control to the GPU in a matter of 300ms and power both the GPU and PCIe lanes completely off when not in use. This can be done without being forced to reboot or even close out your applications, making it a hands-free solution for the customer."

Comments

Re:I like my desktop.

[Monkeedude1212]

What all the cool kids are doing is dropping cases altogether. Thats right, nothing looks more badass than your motherboard laying on the desk with silicon chips sticking up in the air, with a giant fan overhead to help keep things cool and circulated. Your friends will be so jealous at all the blinking lights.

As for the Optimus, I think its a great idea. This change can come for desktops as much as it has for notebooks, if there is enough demand for such a product.

Think, you had to factor in the power supply when you bought that new Graphics card. So imagine how much power its actually eating up. Imagine if your desktop didn't have to use that much power when it didn't have to?

Re:Boring

[Khyber]

Why? So when my GPU fucks itself I have to buy a whole new cpu/GPU combo?

No thanks, I'll stick with discrete individual parts - makes repairs and upgrades so much easier.