AMD PowerXPress 4.0 aka BACON vs. Nvidia Optimus

We were able to test out AMD's take on automatic graphics switching with the help of the Dell Vostro 3550.   The 15.6" office/multimedia hybrid notebook contains a dual-core processor of Intel's most recent Sandy Bridge generation (Core i7-2620M) and a mid-grade dedicated graphics card with DirectX 11 support (Radeon HD 6630M).

In short, BACON makes its presence known after not very long at all.  When starting various programs, a notification window pops up, stating: "The program XYZ uses 3D images and/or video but is not currently assigned to a particular graphics processor".  In other words: the system does not know which of the two graphics cards to use for numerous programs.  If you close the notification window, it's usually the on-board graphics card that takes over—bad for games.  If you press the "configure" button, however, you'll be redirected to the Catalyst Control Center (the settings menu for the graphics card) where you can choose the specific settings for each application on a quick, user-friendly list.  Fortunately, the Catalyst Control Center saves your settings and the next time you open up a program for which you've chosen the GPU, there's no notification window that pops up anymore.All in all, Nvidia Optimus is a notch above AMD.  For one, you don't have to bother with irritating notification windows popping up, and Optimus recognizes which GPU to use better.  The price, on the other hand, is more appealing on AMD's side.  AMD's user interface is also a bit easier to get used to (partly because of its limited options).  The Nvidia Optimus menus, however, are not incredibly user-friendly.  Whether AMD's concept will work when the laptop is connected to an external monitor depends on the particular manufacturer of the laptop at hand.  Another limitation of the AMD concept is that the user will not be able to make use of certain features of the dedicated graphics card like Eyefinity when the HDMI output is connected to the on-board GPU (HD Graphics 3000, for example)—but the system can still switch over to the dedicated graphics card.