Nvidia Optimus Offers (Battery) Life For Mobile Gamers

The following video is a showcase of the new Nvidia Optimus graphics technology. Running on an ASUS N61Jv notebook, the Optimus graphics card offers laptop gamers the chance of being able to unplug their laptop without wiping out the battery in half an hour.

I’ve just made the switch to a laptop as my main machine as the pressures of a growing family forced me to give up my trusty desktop PC (boo hoo!). While my new Dell Studio 17 has a half-decent graphics card (an ATI Radeon Mobility HD 4650 with 1GB of memory) it also has a short battery life of just under two hours. This amount of time is clearly a disadvantage, battery life just wasn't one of my priorities, but it is always a matter of give-and-take. Here's a relatively recent list of some of the best long-life laptops available if you are interested. When buying a product such as laptops it's always a tricky thing to weigh up the pros and cons of battery life when there is just so many other aspects to consider.

This is where Nvidia’s Optimus technology comes in as it seeks to make more efficient use of the battery when not running graphics-intense apps such as games and movies. It’s effectively two graphics cards in one – a basic mode for normal Windows use that uses little power, and then a more powerful graphics mode to keep up with the pace required of modern games. The switch between the two modes is seamless and automatic.

It’s a great idea that will prove to be popular – I just wish it had been released a few months ago!