Recently, NVIDIA announced their new mobile GPU for notebooks, the GeForce GT 640M with Kepler architecture. This graphics card will find its way into several laptops this year, but most notably it’s designed to go into ultrabooks.

As you saw in my hands-on with the Acer Timeline Ultra M3, it is possible to include discrete graphics that perform well in a thin, light form factor. Since NVIDIA’s Kepler chips are twice as power efficient as the previous generation, you can get great performance without sucking down battery or making a notobook too hot — key factors when dealing with ultrabooks.

Read: First Hands-On: Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M3 Ultrabook (Video)

Ever since the introduction of ultrabooks I’ve been waiting for this development to come along, so you can imagine my excitement. However, Chippy at Ultrabook News is the opposite of thrilled.

Calling all Ultrabook designers, manufacturers, OEMs. Putting discreet graphics in Ultrabooks is not going to help the Ultrabook and it may come back to bite you. Mainstream buyers don’t understand what it means, gamers aren’t interested, video editors use Apple rigs and that just leaves the niche market of mobile geeks that do a bit of gaming on the side, a big bunch of impressionable bloggers and anyone you can tease with marketing, advertising and a bunch of stickers.

Ouch.

I hope I don’t count as an impressionable blogger, though I will admit that the reason I want discrete graphics in an ultrabook is due to my own personal computing needs. Chippy is right that professional video editors mostly use MacBooks. Whenever I have to attend an event where I need to edit and upload videos fast I bring a MacBook Pro. However, a Pro is not the same as an Air, and while the Airs do all right with video editing, I wouldn’t call them fast.

Speedy video editing on the spot may not be a necessity for most people, even most professionals, but it’s my main criteria for wanting the discrete GPU. And I don’t think I’m completely alone in that.

Even if I am, Chippy appears to miss an important point about ultrabooks with good graphics chips. It’s not about pleasing one specific type of user, like a gamer or a video pro or mobile geeks. It’s about pleasing the much wider consumer base of people who need to get stuff done on their computers.

Call them power users or mobile professionals or whathaveyou, but there are a significant number of people that don’t just have a laptop for checking email, updating Twitter, and watching video. I push my laptop to its limits every day with my 40 tabs across two browsers plus an office program, email program, image editor and music player. Not everyone will have the same combination of programs, but my general use case is not atypical.

For people like me, a discrete GPU isn’t only useful when I need to edit a photo or video, it improves overall performance, too. This is even more important when you consider that the Intel CPUs inside ultrabooks are ultra low voltage models, meaning they aren’t as powerful as the versions found in normal notebooks.

With NVIDIA’s GPU the hope is that I can have my 40 tabs and 10 programs and not worry about lag or crashing. Is it so much to ask that I can have all of this in a 13-inch ultrabook?

I know I’m not the only one who wants a laptop that’s super thin and super light I can carry everywhere. The power users don’t even just include mobile professionals, but also students. And students are more likely to want a laptop they can take everywhere and do everything on, including play games at a decent framerate.

I don’t know how manufacturers plan to market ultrabooks with NVIDIA graphics — maybe they will target the gamers or the video editing pros and maybe those groups won’t be interested, as Chippy predicts. But I think that mainstream users won’t be that hard to reach if you just say to them that ultrabooks with discrete GPUs will outperform those that don’t.

More power, same form factor. Who wouldn’t want that? It goes to the idea that several manufacturers have already put forth: that ultrabooks will be the new mainstream notebooks within the next few years. And no one questions why mainstream buyers would want a discrete GPU in a regular laptop. I hope that soon it will be the same for ultrabooks.

Why Consumers Should Want Ultrabooks With Discrete Graphics is a post by K. T. Bradford from Notebooks.com.

Ever since ultrabooks first debuted a few months ago I’ve been both excited and disappointed by them. I love me some super skinny and light enough to carry everywhere hardware, but I also need me some serious power.

Last week at CeBIT Acer set out to answer my prayers when they introduced the Aspire Timeline Ultra M3, a 15-inch ultrabook with discrete graphics. That’s right, kids: Nvidia GeForce GT640M GPU goodness coupled with an Intel Core i processor. I remember thinking: maybe, just maybe that laptop will be decent at crunching video.

However, now that I’ve seen it in action, I cannot wait to get my hands on one.

Today Nvidia showed off the gaming prowess of the Timeline Ultra M3 by firing up Battlefield 3. Keep in mind that this is an ultrabook, even though it has a 15-inch screen, so the CPU is still low-voltage. Thanks to the new Kepler-type GPU Nvidia is able to deliver more power and performance twice as efficiently. That means you can get powerful chips in thin laptops and not cause a fire hazard.

Ultrabooks are about to get a lot more interesting.

The Timeline Ultra M3 can play games as detailed and graphics intense as Battlefield 3 with settings turned up to Ultra with no problems. We’re talking smooth gameplay, graphics, movement, everything. You’ll get the full gaming experience with Kepler GPUs no matter what kind of laptop you have.

Even if you aren’t a gamer you can benefit from the power the GPU provides. Photo editing, video editing, and 3D rendering speed up considerably when compared to the integrated graphics found in other ultrabooks. Even if you only do a little video editing with movies from your phone or only fire up an image editor to get rid of red eye, all of those tasks will take even less time.

Plus, for laptops with Nvidia’s Optimus technology, you won’t see a major hit in battery life. The GPU will only kick in when needed, not when you’re just typing something in Word or checking email.

As for the Aspire Timeline Ultra M3 itself, I am very impressed with how light it is for a 15-inch notebook. I can see myself carrying it on trips, to meetings, and anywhere I need both portability and power.

Inside you can get up to a Intel Core i7-2637M processor, up to 6GB of RAM, and configurations with a hybrid hard drive/SSD combo or SSD only up to 256GB. This ultrabook also has an optical drive. It weighs just 5.07 pounds and is made form an aluminum alloy that feels as sturdy as it does lightweight. Acer promises up to 8 hours of battery life.

The only drawback specs-wise is the resolution: 1366 x 768. I asked the Nvidia reps I met with today about that and it turns out this isn’t just the result of notebook makers keeping costs down by not using higher density panels. When you up the resolution, the CPU and GPU have to work harder to support it. And given that ultrabooks need to keep the voltage low for the sake of a thin chassis, we’re not likely to see many higher resolutions in the near future.

However, I’m willing to deal with “just” HD resolution in order to get my portable powerhouse.

The Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M3 will hit retail stores soon. Official pricing isn’t available, but the laptop is selling in Singapore for the equivalent of $1035 (according to PCWorld), so I suspect a $999 price announcement is forthcoming.

First Hands-On: Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M3 Ultrabook With Discrete Graphics (Video) is a post by K. T. Bradford from Notebooks.com.

One of the drawbacks of the ultrabook category is the lack of robust power under the hood. Since these notebooks are meant to be super slim they feature ultra low voltage processors to keep them from getting too hot. That also results in lower performance than non-ULV chips.

Intel’s ULV chips have come a long way in the past couple of years and made it possible for ultrabooks to deliver performance beyond good enough for mainstream users.

However, those of us who want a really portable machine that can also kick butt when it comes to processing video and images or maybe even playing a game or two have to look beyond ultra at the moment.

That won’t true for much longer. According to Fudzilla, Nvidia’s Kepler class of GPUs will be in some of the second generation ultrabooks.

This means users will get the benefit of a discrete graphics card but won’t have to sacrifice long battery life. This new class of GPUs will come with Optimus technology, which switches between integrated and discrete graphics automatically when needed.

Fudzilla’s sources say that Acer and ASUS will be in on this deliciousness, and Liliputing points out that the IdeaPad U410, coming in May, is supposed to have GMA 610 graphics.

If this does happen, ultrabooks will get a nice boost in performance. It’s not likely to be so great that you’ll be zooming through Batman: Arkham City at 100fps. However, if you’re a mobile professional who does some graphics work, it may mean the difference between going with an ultrabook or going with a heavier, bulkier system.

The Kepler class of chips will begin shipping in April, so we won’t see ultrabooks with switchable graphics until the spring or summer.

Switchable Graphics Coming To Ultrabooks Soon? is a post by K. T. Bradford from Notebooks.com.

If you ever want to know which graphics card your Apple MacBook Pro is using, then gfxcardstatus is the perfect utility. The MacBook Pro has what is called switchable or dynamic switching graphics.  When your system needs a lot of graphics processing power for things like video encoding, picture editing or especially gaming, the computer switches from lowered powered integrated graphics to higher powered discrete graphics.

The difference between integrated and discrete graphics is power – both consumption and horsepower to get work done. Having dynamic switching graphics is like being able to open the computer and put in a different graphics card for different scenarios, except you don’t have to dissect your MacBook Pro. A high-powered gaming card is for more intense applications like Photoshop or Call of Duty. Integrated graphics are for ordinary applications like Microsoft Word and a Twitter client. From an automotive analogy think of dynamic switching graphics as switching to four-wheel drive when driving off-road and two-wheel drive for driving around town. The benefit is higher power when needed, but lower power consumption on the integrated graphics for ordinary tasks.

It is nice to know when the higher powered discrete graphics card is being used. gfxcardstatus is a lightweight utility that runs in your menu bar and tells you exactly when that happens with on-screen notification. It is a free app which you can get from the developer’s website.

The app will run in the background and any time the computer switches it will give you an onscreen notification (see above and below). In addition, if you would like to manually switch the computer between the two, you simply click the menu icon. The drop down menu gives options including selection of the Intel only, AMD or NVIDIA only or Dynamic Switching, which is the default for the MacBook Pro and lets the computer decide automatically.

There are preferences which allow you to tell it to set the graphics card to the less battery hungry integrated graphics when your computer is unplugged or to automatically turn on the more powerful discrete graphics card when you are plugged into power. This can increase performance when plugged in and increase battery life when unplugged. You might want the latter when you are running low on battery life but can’t plug-in.

If you are noticing the computer switching to power-hungry discrete graphics and can’t figure out what application might be causing this, the app will give you a list of which programs cause the switch from the drop down menu. They will be listed in the menu section that shows which card is used. This is very handy for trying to see what apps are draining your battery.

gfxcardstatus Features:

• Easily switches between graphics card options
• Display which card is being used
• Notifications use growl
• Lightweight
• Free

How to Tell Which GPU Your MacBook Pro is Using and Manually Choose Your GPU with gfxcardstatus is a post by Kevin Purcell from Notebooks.com.

Rene Haas is the General Manager of Notebooks at NVIDIA

In the past, consumers were forced to prioritize notebook performance or battery life, as one feature typically suffers significantly in order to accommodate the other. You could have long battery life from an underpowered notebook, or all the GPU power you desired from a notebook without extra long battery life.  As of today, those days are behind us.

A new technology for notebooks called NVIDIA Optimus is available today on systems from Asus. Just as a Hybrid car chooses between the gas-powered and electric car engine on-the-fly and uses the most appropriate engine, NVIDIA Optimus technology does the same thing for graphics processors.

NVIDIA Optimus is a game changer for the notebook PC industry. It intelligently and seamlessly manages graphics performance while extending battery life to provide the best notebook PC experience.”

- Dr. Jon Peddie, President of Jon Peddie Research, a pioneer of the graphics industry and a leading analyst

NVIDIA Optimus optimizes the mobile experience by letting the user get the performance of discrete graphics from a notebook, while still delivering great battery life. Optimus accomplishes this by automatically and seamlessly selecting the right graphics processor for the job between an NVIDIA discrete GPU or Intel integrated graphics.

Older technology called switchable graphics helped address the performance/battery life balance, but there were still several issues. Switchable graphics was pioneered by NVIDIA about 2 years ago and quickly adopted by other graphics companies. With switchable graphics, users have the advantage of having access to discrete and integrated graphics. However, they are required to manually switch between the two display adapters. Switching also often requires shutting down applications that are running and sometimes requires rebooting the system.  Also, with switchable graphics often users do not know or remember what state their notebook is in. The result:  users get frustrated and rarely switch.

Switchable graphics is a great idea in theory, but in practice people rarely switch between integrated and discrete GPUs.  The process is just too cumbersome and confusing.  Some buyers wonder why their performance is so poor when they think the discrete GPU is active, but, unknown to them, it isn’t.  Optimus fixes what is broken with switchable graphics.”

- Roger Kay, president of Endpoint Technologies Associates, one of the computer industry’s best-known market intelligence analysts

Optimus offers notebook users a far better user experience.  Optimus is automatic. Optimus determines the best processor for the workload and routes it accordingly, with the decision being entirely transparent to the user.

Optimus is switchable graphics done right.  No toggles, no reboots, no thinking.   Finally, there is an optimized notebook solution that painlessly gives notebook users both the performance they want and the battery life they need.”

- Rob Enderle, President and Principal Analyst of the Enderle Group, one of the most influential technology pundits in the world

With more and more processing being done on the GPU, the significance of Optimus becomes increasingly more important.  GPU Computing is the use of the massively parallel architecture of the graphics processing unit (GPU) as a computational engine that can be programmed with high level languages and APIs. We already have a great roster of applications that run on the NVIDIA CUDA architecture that consumers love. In fact, video is the killer application for the GPU, and a number of new video applications are able to tap into the computing power of the GPU thanks to CUDA.  Adobe has added support for GPU computing to their popular CS4 Suite, Flash 10.1 and their Mercury Playback Engine.

NVIDIA Optimus is designed to work in ways consumers expect hardware and software to work together, it’s simple and seamless. We worked closely with NVIDIA to enable Adobe Flash Player 10.1 to take advantage of GPU acceleration whenever possible.  As a result, consumers get the benefit of maximum battery life and the best multimedia experience when browsing the web.”

- David Wadhwani, general manager & vice president, Platform Business Unit, Adobe, which is redefining business, entertainment and personal communications by setting new standards for producing and delivering content

ASUS N61JV with NVIDIA Optimus

Notebooks with NVIDIA Optimus technology will be available shortly, starting with the Asus UL50Vf, N61Jv, N71Jv, N82Jv, and U30Jc notebooks.

We are all hands-on-deck to bring this innovative new technology into the consumer market.  NVIDIA Optimus is a unique approach that solves the problem of users having to choose between systems and graphics performance versus extended battery life. ASUS’ powerful multimedia N series and the thin and light UL series notebooks will adopt this new technology, and in doing so provide our users with powerful multimedia enjoyment at home or on-the-go.”

- P.C. Wang, Corporate Vice President & General Manager, Notebook Business Unit System Business Group of ASUS

Optimus is new and is a level beyond switchable graphics.  Optimus is able to automatically give users the performance they need while also maximizing battery life, transparently, and with zero effort.  It just works.

The genius of NVIDIA Optimus is in its simplicity. One can surf the web and get great battery life and when one needs the extra horsepower for applications like Adobe Flash 10.1, Optimus automatically switches to the more powerful NVIDIA GPU.”

-said Dr. Jon Peddie, President of Jon Peddie Research, a pioneer of the graphics industry and a leading analyst.

For more information on NVIDIA Optimus technology, side by side videos and additional details, visit http://www.nvidia.com/optimus.

Optimus Makes it Simple is a post by Rene Haas from Notebooks.com.

Details are very sparse right now, but Nvidia has announced on the Nvidia Ntersect blog that they will be launching Nvidia Optimus, a new technology that will “optimize the mobile experience” in the first quarter of 2010.

The Nvidia Optimus technology will reportedly be seamless to users and offer the power of discrete graphics without sacrificing battery life; a problem that has plagued mobile users for a long time.

It is very likely that Nvidia will share more about the Optimus technology at CES this week so stay tuned for more of our coverage of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas — you can even win Lenovo notebooks, ScotteVest gear from the comfort of your chair.

Nvidia Optimus Aims to Transform Mobile Graphics is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.