Rumor: Apple bringing Optimus to MacBook Pro?

Ever since news of NVidia’s Optimus came out, people have been speculating about it coming to Apple MacBooks.  AppleInsider’s Kasper Jade talked to some Apple Insiders and found that the next generation of MacBook will take the current manual switching technology to an automatic switching technology.

More specifically, the Mac maker has up and running in its labs several next-generation MacBook Pros that can switch between their integrated and discrete graphics processors automatically, according to people familiar with the matter.

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While those privy to Apple’s plans could not say with complete certainty that the new technology would qualify for inclusion in the most immediate update to the MacBook Pro family, they do believe that’s indeed the Cupertino-based company’s plans. The current chipset situation Apple faces across its notebook lines also lends support to these claims.

Given Apple’s previous close relationship with NVidia, it’s no stretch to believe that Optimus is what’s under the hood here.  If it is, I guess I need to start saving now for an upgrade.

PS: Steve, if you’re out there, I would be willing to sacrifice some time to review a unit :)

AppleInsider | Apple plans dual graphics enhancements on future MacBook Pros.

This story written by Randall Hand

Randall Hand is a visualization scientist working for a federal research lab, aiding researchers to discover the insights buried within their terabyte datasets generated on some of the most powerful supercomputers in the world. He also runs VizWorld.com .