Sandy Bridge with Optimus, does it exist?

So I've found CyberPower and Sager offering Sandy Bridge notebooks with the GT540M, the GTX460M, and the GTX485M. However, none mention having Optimus. Is the first wave of Sandy Bridge notebooks not going to have Optimus implemented, or is Optimus not even an option anymore with the Sandy Bridge architecture?

 

Optimus is an option, it's just not in the Clevo laptops you are looking at. It requires specialized hardware that the manufacturer has chosen not to implement.

 

Why would you want Optimus anyways?
All I've heard is bad things about it so far.

 

Has anyone implemented, or announced they're going to implement Optimus with the currently available Sandy Bridge CPUs?

And a related question, I'm of course concerned about battery life. I've seen battery benchmarks of Sandy Bridge laptops without a separate graphics card (very impressive), but are there any reviews yet with battery benchmarks on a system with a seperate graphics card without Optimus?

The reviews I've seen have been generally positive, and again, I'm trying to get as much battery life as I can while still having the power of a separate graphics card as an option.

 

Has absolutely no Linux support. Many reviews show you hardly get a battery life increase, but I guess with every reincarnation Nvidia gets slightly better at hybrid graphics. Also many times it isn't implemented correctly.

 

Don't care

AnandTech disagrees, but maybe you could point out the reviews you refer to?

I certainly hope that after a year people are implementing it correctly now.

But back to my semi-original question: Has anyone implemented, or announced they're going to implement Optimus with the currently available Sandy Bridge CPUs?

 

The retailers in this forum said there will be a Sager released next week with a sb processor, mid-range graphics card and optimus is going to be implemented.

 

Someone from xoticpc says Sager will announce new mid-range laptops by Friday, almost certainly to have Optimus. But I'm guessing they might not ship until February.

I'm assuming the Sager np5160 will be 15.6" and the Sager np5170 will be 17.3", but otherwise identical chassis. Graphics card something like the Nvidia 525m plus Optimus. Huron River CPU, almost certainly quad-core if Justin's ETA is correct. But now that duals and quads both have an IGP, perhaps they could be interchangeable in Optimus laptops.

 

Here you have a few. I think there are more to come though..

Optimus Technology

 

I still don't get why this isn't being implemeted with any high end cards. I'd even be happy with manually switchable graphics. I don't get the argument that gamers don't care about battery life. We just haven't had it as an option. I know if I could get a lappy that I could use for hard core gaming but then switch over to the IGP for real battery life for browsing I would be psyched.

 

adwilk, I completely agree with you.

And thanks to those of you that provided some info on upcoming notebooks

 

Update: new Clevos/Sagers with Optimus are said to have the Nvidia 540m.

 

Alienware M17x-R3 has optimus/switchable graphics. It comes standard with the ATi 6870m so you have to pay $50 extra for the nVidia 460m gtx to get optimus support. Dell will be adding the nVidia 485M GTX for the M17x-R3 soon and that card also should support optimus.

 

CyberpowerPC now has a Compal PBL21 based notebook with the nvidia 540M (X6-9600). Any idea if this system has Optimus? I sent them a message but I'm still waiting to hear back from them.

 

I didn't think 460m/485m typically had Optimus turned on. I thought that they had it specifically turned off for high-end notebooks and the next ones with optimus would be things like 540m.

 

Well the Cyberpower sales rep says the laptops with the 540m don't have Optimus. The Asus N53SV seems to be an option, except I can't find the "full HD" version for sale anywhere :/

 

Sager offers the NP5160 and NP5170 with SB i7 and GTX 540m.

Nobody seems to want to offer Optimus with high end GPU's which makes no sense. Sager claims they don't because of issues with drivers and compatability with games. I can appreciate that, but it doesn't have to be Optimus. Make it a hard switch that laptops have been using for a long time. I'd prefer a hard switch anyhow so that I can install drivers independently and don't have to rely on hybrid drivers by the OEM.

 

the problem is that you are doomed to the release rate of the modded verde drivers, just like the sony z.

aside that you would have to hire a team of programmers to continually dish out the drivers

 

On a related note... anyone know why the Sager NP5170 is so much cheaper than the NP8170 (like hundreds $$)? Is the 540M really that much less than even a 460M?

 

There are also 2 drive bays in the NP8170 vs 1 in the NP5170, 4 SODIMM slots in the NP8170 vs 2 in the NP5170, different chipsets (HM67 in the NP8170, HM65 in the NP5170, don't know the differences offhand), USB 3.0 and some other extra ports in the NP8170, bigger battery in the NP8170 (although poorer listed life), Directx11 capability in the cards for the NP8170... um. I think that's most of the obvious differences there.

 

Ah good points, the 2nd drive and 4 memory slots are really important to some.

Looks like the 540M is just a slightly overclocked 435M--specs are the same:
Mobile Graphics Cards - Benchmark List - Notebookcheck.net Tech

Not impressed. But I guess it gives you Optimus. :\ Wake me up when a 580+ comes out.

 

Is anyone impressed, enthused about this:

LucidLogix Develops NVIDIA Optimus Rival Targeting Sandy Bridge Platforms

Doesn't sound right to me, but that could just be old age.

 

Wow, good find +1. This would be good though, that way vendors won't be tied to Intel / nVidia or AMD / ATI (AMD). What I'm most interested in though is being able to use individual drivers for both discrete and integrated GPU's.

 

Hm. I had read an article about a Lucid Logix Desktop adapter that allows a SLI-like bundling of VGA cards from Nvidia and Ati (including a mixed configuration).
Well, sometimes it worked, sometimes not. Also there were driver issues with that chip either.

So I would not put much faith into such a solution.

Michael