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    Optimus Technology

    Discussion in 'Dell XPS and Studio XPS' started by GreenGreen, Dec 3, 2010.

  1. GreenGreen

    GreenGreen Notebook Enthusiast

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    Does it placed in XPS 17 with i7?
     
    GreenGreen, Dec 3, 2010
    #1
  2. machiz7888

    machiz7888 Notebook Consultant

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    a bit hard to understand. no, its only on i3/5
     
    machiz7888, Dec 3, 2010
    #2
  3. GreenGreen

    GreenGreen Notebook Enthusiast

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    haahha sorry, language fail.
    However, someone said sth else

    Therefore ...?
     
    GreenGreen, Dec 3, 2010
    #3
  4. sprtnbsblplya

    sprtnbsblplya Notebook Deity

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    i7 doesn't support Optimus.
    It physically lacks the chip to do so.
     
    sprtnbsblplya, Dec 3, 2010
    #4
  5. GreenGreen

    GreenGreen Notebook Enthusiast

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    Which means that you can't turn on the save-battery mode or sth?
     
    GreenGreen, Dec 3, 2010
    #5
  6. seeker_moc

    seeker_moc Notebook Virtuoso

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    No, it will still have a power-saving mode where the Nvidia GPU downclocks itself to save power, but it's not as good (power/heat saving wise) as Optimus. What Optimus does is shut off the dedicated Nvidia GPU completely to save power, and run Windows desktop and other low load stuff (Office, internet, etc) off the integrated Intel GPU that is on every dual-core i series CPU.
     
    seeker_moc, Dec 3, 2010
    #6
  7. GreenGreen

    GreenGreen Notebook Enthusiast

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    How effective is this Optimus? How significant is the difference? Because I heard many negative opinions 'bout Optimus ...
     
    GreenGreen, Dec 3, 2010
    #7
  8. seeker_moc

    seeker_moc Notebook Virtuoso

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    I'm not a fan either, it still has some bugs to get over, driver support is a bit behind the regular cards, doesn't work on non-Windows Vista/7 OS, etc. It'll likely only net you an extra 30 min or so, but it would depend greatly on the workload. For people who use their laptop on wall power most of the time, Optimus isn't really worth it.
     
    seeker_moc, Dec 3, 2010
    #8
  9. dkwhite

    dkwhite Notebook Deity

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    I'm not impressed with optimus so far. Nvidia has a lot of work to do to make it worthwhile. right now I don't even think the battery saving's are that much, but hopefully there is room for improvement. As with anything else I think nvidia will improve upon it with subsequent driver releases. If we ever get them.
     
    dkwhite, Dec 3, 2010
    #9
  10. GreenGreen

    GreenGreen Notebook Enthusiast

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    Optimus doesn't work on Windows 7? Well, the problem is that I'm buyin XPS 17 and I want better graphic card which is GF GT 445, so obviously I must invest in this stupid i7 ... However I'm buyin 9-cell battery, so hopefully it'll refund it ^.^
    Thanks for help
     
    GreenGreen, Dec 3, 2010
    #10
  11. knaadhan

    knaadhan Notebook Geek

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    I am not very impressed too. But with the technology being relatively new, I think we should give some time for it to mature. I think its pretty neat we have a choice to use the discrete graphics alone by disabling Optimus. Giving the choice to consumers is the nice part. So lets see where it goes.
     
    knaadhan, Dec 3, 2010
    #11
  12. dkwhite

    dkwhite Notebook Deity

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    I agree with you, that's the main reason why I opted for i5, I had heard the initial reviews for optimus wasn't that fantastic but figure it will be improved upon over the coming year.
     
    dkwhite, Dec 3, 2010
    #12
  13. seeker_moc

    seeker_moc Notebook Virtuoso

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    No, it ONLY works in Windows Vista/7. It doesn't work in XP, Linux, etc.
     
    seeker_moc, Dec 3, 2010
    #13