Just before CES 2010 back in January, Nvidia updated its official blog with a teaser about an upcoming mobile technology called Optimus. Set for a Q1 release, the new "revolutionary" technology will only work on laptops powered by Nvidia GPUs.
Without offering in-depth details, the company said that Optimus is completely seamless, transparent, and will enable a Nvidia-branded integrated GPU to reach the same performance level as a conventional GPU, but without a heavy draw on the laptop's battery. This may indicate that Optimus controls a single GPU in a hardware or software sense, and scales the overall performance when needed.
However, since Optimus is an unannounced product, Nvidia refused to divulge additional details, and basically handed out "no comment" notices. Instead, queries are linked back to the pre-CES 2010 blog.
X-bit Labs seems to have acquired additional information however. According to the site, Nvidia will reveal the Optimus technology on February 9. It's also believed that the company is re-launching its older-yet-improved Hybrid SLI (or Hybrid Graphics) technology under the Optimus name. X-bit said that this could help Nvidia compete with microprocessors with a built-in graphics core.
With Nvidia keeping such a tight lid on the project, most of the information is speculative. Hopefully we'll know more next week. What's your take on Nvidia's Optimus?
