Confirmed: Apple's MacBook Pros not primed with Optimus
The dual GPU system implemented in Apple's new MacBook Pro notebooks is not Nvidia's Optimus technology, it has emerged. Instead, Apple uses multiplexer (mux) hardware to switch the output to the screen between the processor-integrated graphics core and the discrete Nvidia GPU, we hear. Like Optimus, the switch is triggered in …
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Trusting apple
...as the author pertains to - you'll be trusting Apple to make your GPU decisions for you, and guaranteed, it'll be a pain in the ass.
Plus I suspect the settings will not be "user configurable" in the conventional sense, so they'll be permanently annoying - especially if the IGP switching flicker is visible every time. I can't imagine his Saintly-ness allowing such a user experience annoyance to slip through though.
Just have to wait and see I guess.
Other power savings
I imagine feeding the data from the GPU to the IGP in the Optimus solution also draws some power, I can't imagine DMI (being general purpose) is as efficient as a display port link.
Typo time
"We'd note, though, that the GPU's power drain is likely to outweigh any advantage from switching off the GPU"
I guess should read:
"We'd note, though, that the GPU's power drain is likely to outweigh any advantage from switching off the IGP"
Rather than a flicker, a nice fade to black with "entering GPU mode" flash could be the order of the day! lol
color me not surprised.
I believe I've read that NVidia Optimus leveraged graphics driver technology present in Windows 7.
So, I wouldn't be too shocked that exactly the same thing isn't currently possible on a Mac.
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