nVidia GT 330M... do all laptops w/ it have Optimus?

[VulcanSoulPatch]

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

 

[Lordbob75]

Optimus Technology

Looks like a battery saving software either in the mobo BIOS or the card BIOS.

~Lordbob

 

[VulcanSoulPatch]

I had been to that nVidia page, and it doesn't give to many particulars on which cards have it except for the links at the bottom of the page. If you hover over the A665 link, you will see that it is the same link for the 8 that I listed above. Clicking on the M645 link takes you to the M640 series page (all models), of which only two have Optimus listed (M645-S4055 w/ GT 330M and M645-S4050 w/ GT 310M). Interestingly enough, if you go to configure any of the laptops where you have the option of selecting either the 310M or the 330M, you will see "NVIDIA Optimus Technology" in the gfx card description. So, I guess there is some ring of truth to what the tech support person said, though his model number assumption was still unfounded.

Still hoping from a more definitive answer from an owner of a 310M or 330M equipped laptop, perferrably an early adopter where the Optimus descriptor was not in the specs.

VSP

 

[Lordbob75]

I had been to that nVidia page, and it doesn't give to many particulars on which cards have it except for the links at the bottom of the page. If you hover over the A665 link, you will see that it is the same link for the 8 that I listed above. Clicking on the M645 link takes you to the M640 series page (all models), of which only two have Optimus listed (M645-S4055 w/ GT 330M and M645-S4050 w/ GT 310M). Interestingly enough, if you go to configure any of the laptops where you have the option of selecting either the 310M or the 330M, you will see "NVIDIA Optimus Technology" in the gfx card description. So, I guess there is some ring of truth to what the tech support person said, though his model number assumption was still unfounded.

Still hoping from a more definitive answer from an owner of a 310M or 330M equipped laptop, perferrably an early adopter where the Optimus descriptor was not in the specs.

VSP

If you really wanted/didn't want it, you could flash the card (mobo?) BIOS and fix it.

~Lordbob