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#1
nVidia GT 330M... do all laptops w/ it have Optimus?
Hey all,
In my current plunge into laptop shopping, I have hit a bit of a wall. I was directed by fellow member whs to look into Toshiba, and have become impressed with their A665 line. However, when reviewing the different models listed on their site, not all of the ones that are equipped with a nVidia GT 330M list "w/NVIDIA® Optimus™ Technology". Here is a good example:
Toshiba Satellite A665-S6058, sold only at Newegg, w/NVIDIA® Optimus™ Technology.
Toshiba Satellite A665-S6057, sold only at TigerDirect, no mention of Optimus.
All other specs between the two are the same. If you check the pdf spec sheets, the Optimus part is included in the 8 but not the 7. I called Toshiba Direct sales. After 30 mins on the phone, no definitive anwer. They told me to call Tech Support, and after 15 mins I was given a line of hooey about the 8 is newer than the 7 and that is why. Oh, and order directly from Toshiba Direct rather than the resellers for the latest greatest of all technology... at a higher price for the same specs. I looked up some other "older" model numbers and proved this "theory" wrong:
Toshiba Satellite A665-S6056, equipped with the GT 310M and a 500GB HDD, w/NVIDIA® Optimus™ Technology.
Toshiba Satellite A665-S6055, equipped with the GT 310M and a 320GB HDD, and sold only at Amazon, w/NVIDIA® Optimus™ Technology.
The only difference between the 5 and the 6 is the size of the HDD. So the assumption that the last number was the difference in production date and therefore an indicator of Optimus is, like I said, complete hooey.
So, my question for you all, do all nVidia GT 330M equipped laptops come with Optimus Technology, or only the ones that explicitly state it? It is kind of a deal breaker for me, since I would rather not "downgrade" (according to notebookcheck) to a lower performing GT 330M from an ATi 5650 equipped laptop available from another mfr unless I get Optimus tech switching the gfx card on and off seamlessly and effortlessly (so I would imagine).
TIA for any info!
VSP