We’ve seen more than a few Core i5 notebooks recently, all of which have been hamstrung by Intel’s weak integrated graphics. Now, Nvidia’s Optimus enables their discrete GPUs to work in current-generation Intel PCs, whether Intel likes it or not. Optimus is a new technology that allows Intel’s integrated GPU to coexist with a discrete Nvidia GPU, seamlessly alternating between the two depending on the task at hand. It works with GeForce 200M series, GeForce 300M series, next-gen GeForce M, and next-gen Ion GPUs as well as Intel’s Core2Duo, Core i3/i5/i7, and Atom N450 processors. At the most basic level, Optimus is similar to the switchable graphics that Nvidia pioneered a few years ago

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Nvidia Optimus Seamlessly Switches Between Amped Up and Power-Sipping Graphics Power [Nvidia]