Netbook Network

Slapping on a dedicated graphics card onto a netbook isn’t exactly a good idea – sure, you’ll get a massive boost in performance over Intel graphics, but your battery life would be close to nothing. Both Nvidia and AMD have unveiled their solutions to provide decent graphics performance for netbooks/ultraportables, dubbed Optimus and Fusion, respectively. As an owner of an Eee 1215N, I’ve had some quality time with Nvidia’s Optimus Technology – which turns on and off the dedicated GPU automatically, so you’ll only use it when you need it, therefore extending battery life. Peek after the break for the full review.

Here’s a quick rundown behind the premise of Nvidia Optimus Technology. You’ll have two GPU’s, one Intel and the other Nvidia. The Intel chip is your primary – rendering your desktop and most of the applications that you run. When the time comes that you’re using a graphics-intensive application, the Nvidia GPU will automatically kick in – delivering performance that the Intel chip can’t even touch. This automatic switching on-and-off of the dedicated graphics card gives you much more battery life than if you used a dedicated card alone, allowing you to work longer without a power source.

Nvidia really wanted Optimus to be super discrete, and they did a really good job at that. It’s practically impossible to tell when the Nvidia GPU is turned on and off – in fact, you need a tool for that. There’s no screen flash or instability problems, it just works. And the “Great Battery Life” claims are accurate – if I play games on this device until the battery runs out, I get around 2.5 hours, but if I use it normally, I can get around 5.5 hours.

The automatic switching of GPU’s is relatively accurate – it sure turns on whenever I run Half Life 2 or watch a video using Windows Media Player. In some instances, though, you might not want to have the Nvidia GPU running. Right within the Nvidia control panel, you’re given the ability to add profiles for certain programs: do you want to use the Intel chip, or the Nvidia chip? We even wrote a guide on how to add profiles for applications a while back.

Unfortunately, this is where Optimus isn’t so great anymore. In the case that it doesn’t turn on when you ask it to, create a profile, select the .EXE, and choose to use the High-Performance Nvidia Processor. The issue with this though? Sometimes, it simply doesn’t work. From what I see, there is no way to force on the Nvidia GPU – it turns on when it wants to, and if you poke it with a stick, it just might do what you ask for. This issue is actually quite frustrating, especially when you want to get older games to work – but sometimes, they just refuse to be rendered by the Nvidia GPU.

Overall, though, Nvidia has done a pretty good job with Optimus. Nvidia’s ION processor marks a good balance between performance and battery life – and to top it off, it’s under the hood of something we call a netbook.

Pros:
-Super discrete, you can’t tell when the Nvidia chip is turned on or off
-GPU switching happens automatically, and does not require a restart
-Provides good battery life for everyday use
-Profiles can be created for specific programs in the case that you want the Nvidia GPU to be on or off
-Nvidia’s mobile GPU’s run miles around Intel GPU’s

Cons:
-Sometimes the profiles you create don’t work
-No way to force on the Nvidia GPU
-No Linux support at the moment
-May be a little too hard to tell if the Nvidia GPU is running

Nvidia’s Optimus Technology has won our Silver Award for excellent, uh, technology. More information about Nvidia Optimus and a list of laptops/netbooks that support Optimus are available on its website, which can be found here.