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.

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.

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.

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.