glVertexPointer before other glXXXPointer function

Is it still true that calling glVertexPointer after all other glXXXPointer functions is the most efficient way? (As mentioned in http://developer.nvidia.com/object/using_VBOs.html). What extra is happening when glVertexPointer is called first and the other functions afterwards?

You shouldn’t have to worry about the VBO implementation details. Only driver writers can tell you the difference as AMD or Intel may have different behaviours. Given the speed of today’s machines compared to when that document was written, you probably won’t notice a difference.