Asus announces first laptops using Nvidia Optimus switchable graphics

Along with Nvidia's announcement today that it's upgraded its Hybrid SLI switchable graphics mobile solution to the company's new Optimus technology, Asus has disclosed the first five laptops that will support the graphics platform, ranging from thin-and-lights to bigger, more multimedia-friendly machines.

The UL50VF-A1 (pictured above) is the one that's making the rounds of reviewers, including PC Magazine and Laptop Magazine. Though it has a low-octane Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300 processor, the Nvidia GeForce G210M discrete graphics card gives it some muscle. The 5.2-pound lightweight comes with a 15.6-inch display, 4GB of RAM, and an $850 price tag.

Specs were a little harder to come by with some of the other new Asus models, though the N61JV-X2 is already available to pre-order from Amazon.com for $899. The mainstream system features a Core i5-430M CPU, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, 500GB hard drive, 16-inch LED-backlit screen, and GeForce GT325M graphics card with 1GB of DDR3 memory. The N71Jv keeps the same video card, but boosts the display size to 17.3 inches; the N82Jv's specs aren't on the Internet, though we can assume it's the fullest featured of the N models.

Xotic PC has the U30JC-A1 available for pre-order from $869. It combines a Core i3-350M processor, 13.3-inch LED-backlit display, and 512MB GeForce G310M graphics card in a 4.8-pound package. The Optimus performance for each of these laptops is still to be determined, but considering it was rare not too long ago to get a discrete graphics card in a sub-$1,000 notebook, you can't complain too much. Doubtless they'll be plenty more Optimus systems in the pipeline we'll learn about in the coming weeks.