25 Most Innovative Products 2010

 6. Nvidia Optimus

Talk about intelligence. Nvidia’s Optimus technology can turn a laptop’s discrete graphics card on or off depending on the task at hand, giving you more oomph only when you need it. Optimus works by having the GPU render intensive video information, which then swiftly copies the data to the system memory, where the Intel GPU directly drives the display. There’s no button to press or switch to flick; it all happens automatically and seamlessly. The result is great graphics performance for high-def video and games and up to 10 hours of battery life. Look for it on lightweight netbooks such as the Acer Aspire 532g and larger notebooks such as the ASUS U30Jc (see p. 40).

Starting at $399 (for notebooks); www.nvidia.com