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    Your thoughts on Nvidia's Optimus.

    Discussion in 'Gaming (Software and Graphics Cards)' started by Howitzer225, Feb 22, 2010.

  1. Howitzer225

    Howitzer225 Death Company Dreadnought

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    As the title suggests, I would like to hear your opinion about the technology-praises, criticisms, advantages, disadvantages and all.

    I'd side with the reviews that it is what switchable graphics should have always been. With the coming of Arrandale chipsets which have on-die graphics, having a software that could utilize the integrated and discrete GPUs makes more sense buying such type of notebooks, since you're not leaving the IGP to rot. It has been done with manual graphics but I'm really impressed with Optimus doing that for you.

    However, I'm a bit skeptical about the need to copy the computations made by the discrete GPU to the IGP when it could do it itself. Just my two cents. :cool:
     
    Howitzer225, Feb 22, 2010
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  2. idiotpilot

    idiotpilot Notebook Evangelist

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    It seems great for the consumer level notebook user - Not having to worry about switching between discrete or integrated gpus. However, I'm not quite sure this will pick up among the enthusiast crowd as most of us know many, many ways to improve battery life while still maintaining a great level of performance. Though it would be nice to see all hardware do what Optimus does.
     
    idiotpilot, Feb 22, 2010
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  3. MidnightSun

    MidnightSun Emodicon

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    Personally, I do not mind switching graphics chipsets by myself, in fact, many times I prefer it. The seamless switching is attractive, though - my T500 takes a few seconds when the monitor blacks out to switch graphics. I can't really pass judgment, though, until I've played around for a while with a laptop that has Optimus technology.
     
    MidnightSun, Feb 22, 2010
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  4. Delta_CT

    Delta_CT Notebook Evangelist

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    I'd personally prefer manual switching, although auto switching would be good for things like flash video acceleration. But I'm most excited about Optimus because it has the potential to make switchable graphics a normal and mainstream thing, and not just something restricted to boutique brands like Alienware. I hope that it will be the catalyst to begin putting switchable graphics in notebooks with high-end GPUs, as those really stand to benefit the most. The 9800GS in my notebook is great, but I suspect that it is the reason why I struggle to get 2 hours of battery life, so there wouldn't be much stopping me from trading in my G50 for a good gaming laptop with Optimus.
     
    Delta_CT, Feb 22, 2010
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  5. oncdoc

    oncdoc Notebook Consultant

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    do you think it can handle lotro?
     
    oncdoc, Feb 22, 2010
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  6. sean473

    sean473 Notebook Prophet

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    Well try this... free GPU undervolt without BIOS flashing... should decrease battery drain...

    http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=456313
     
    sean473, Feb 23, 2010
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