Has Nvidia just given netbooks a huge boost in the eyes of the consumer?
Late yesterday (Feb. 9) the graphics giant announced ‘Optimus’, a breakthrough technology which can automatically switch between low power integrated graphics and discrete high power graphics as applications require it. In short, this means you get the grunt you need when using more intense functions (Full HD video playback, gaming, etc), but not the drain on battery life they cause when doing less intensive tasks like word processing or surfing the web.
Why is this a big deal? To put it simply, it adds a new level of flexibility to netbooks which were previously either underpowered when relying solely on Intel’s Atom-based chipsets or had their batteries drained quickly by Nvidia’s more powerful Atom-hybrid ION platform.
That said, the idea isn’t totally new, and a number of full-size laptops have offered switchable graphics solutions for the last few years. The difference is they all need users to make the switch manually, and this often requires a reboot, not to mention the memory to switch the graphics back to their lower power state afterward. Forget to do so, and you’ll end up with a flat laptop quickly. By contrast, Optimus operates seamlessly in the background and is completely invisible to the end user.
How will this impact smartbooks? In theory, not a lot, since smartbook makers have time and again stressed they are not looking to compete directly with netbooks. In practice, however, it could prove a different story, since many consumers still perceive the two to be going head-to-head and this is definitely a new plus point for the netbook category.
Availability? Optimus will not be backwards-compatible with old ION netbooks, but will feature in ION2 models from now on, and is also being rolled out for full size laptops with Intel Core 2 Duo and Core i3, i5 and i7 processors. AMD (with its ownership of ATI) and ARM are being left out for now.
That said, Nvidia is still a major fan of smartbooks, having shown off its ARM-based Tegra 2 chipset inside the Mobinnova Beam and Pegatron Neo at CES in January. All of which suggests the real intended victims of Optimus are ATI and Qualcomm – and from Nvidia’s perspective, hasn’t that always been the case…?
Gordon
