Optimus Technology now advertised for T series [ Edited ]

[SpacemanSpiff]

First, I saw info regarding this BIOS update at another forum: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?sitestyle=lenovo&lndocid=MIGR-74269&medium=rs...

Along with this driver update said to be "NVIDIA Optimus Display Driver for Windows 7 (64-bit) - ThinkPad T410, T410i, T410s, T410si, T510, T510i": http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?sitestyle=lenovo&lndocid=MIGR-76280&medium=rs...

And now this Lenovo ad on youtube posted just today: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEjZDuc44vs

So, my question is whether this applies to all T410 models with nVidia graphics, or whether a hardware change was made just recently.

EDIT: Just looking at the order form for a new T410, I see that the video card is indicated as "NVIDIA NVS 3100m Optimus Graphics 512MB DDR3 with AMT", so apparently this is new hardware.

[RamGuy459]

Yeah, we need much better information on this!

I thought nVIDIA Optimus was purely software / driver based, in other words all machines with integrated Intel graphics and newer GT2xx / NVS xxxx dedicated nVIDIA graphics solutions are capable of utilizing nVIDIA Optimus, at least in theory?

Only problem might be the chipset, but all Tx10 and Wx10 models are using the QM57 chipset, capable of using the Integrated graphics of the Intel Core ix lineup.

I'm also very hesitant to know whether we'll see this update for the W510 series, as they've got much more power-hungry graphics card so the result of Optimus would be more efficient.

[SpacemanSpiff]

Yeah, I was hoping for an official response from Lenovo.

I mean, what was the point of posting a BIOS update that enables Optimus technology when in fact any Optimus enabled Thinkpads that ship henceforth must inherently have this BIOS when shipped ?

[dziub-dziub]

It is really interesting I've bought t410 few months ago and it's killing me that I cannot switch to integrated GPU on battery. Still It is obvious that Lenovo can at least let us switch graphics manually. And maybe they can provide us with the software optimus upgrade. Hope so.

Cheers,

dziubas...

[Maliha Community Moderator · Accepted solution]

On lenovo blogs someone asked Russ Compton (lenovo employee) this question, see his reply below:-

"Q: Is this a software/driver update that can be applied to existing switchable graphics T410s models, or is there a hardware change which means it’s a feature of new “Optimus systems” only.

A: Amardeep, that is a good question. All ThinkPads shipping today will be Optimus enabled if running Win 7.. The current T410, T410s and T510 that are in the field will not be able to upgrade. The changes are the following: 1- Graphics Driver, 2- BIOS UPDATE 3- EEPROM Flash. So the hardware is not changing, but the upgrade to Optimus is not supported due to the EEPROM update that is required."

http://lenovoblogs.com/lenovofiles/2010/10/05/a-smarter-thinkpad-new-hybrid-graphicsbattery-saving-c...

Hope it helps.

[SpacemanSpiff]

Thanks, Maliha.

That said, it would be nice to see something along the lines of what dziub-dziub suggested.

[dziub-dziub]

Then make an EPROM flashing.

[VST510]

I bought T510 4313CTO on the month of August 2010. with Discrete graphics NVIDIA NVS 3100m Graphics with 512MB DDR3 Memory. Can I get the NVIDIA Optimus Technology by updating BIOS to latest version.

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

@VST510, the bios update won't unlock the optimus techology in your T510.