When it does, your computer not only uses less juice, but it also runs much cooler, and the fans will be quieter as they won’t have to spin so quickly to keep the machine cooler.ĭepending on how you use your MacBook Pro on a daily basis, you may or may not need to utilize the Automatic Graphics Switching setting. When you’re done, it moves back to the integrated graphics source to save power. Thanks to powerful software in your Mac, macOS is capable of detecting when your computer needs more graphical horsepower, and it can seamlessly switch over to the discreet graphics card if you’re doing something graphic intensive, such as gaming. Without this feature, your power-hungry discreet graphics card would slide your battery life to a fraction of the time it lasts right now. How Automatic Graphics Switching worksĪutomatic Graphics Switching is a great feature because it helps give your Apple notebook phenomenal battery life. But there are sufficient options to help extend the battery life. Note: You may not see the Video Card heading if you have a MacBook Pro with Apple silicon (M1, M2, and their successors.) Plus, you may not see the Automatic graphics switching option in System Preferences. You might see some variant of Intel integrated graphics, whether it’s the Intel Iris Pro or Intel HD graphics. More than likely, this is going to be the case if you have a lower-end MacBook Pro. If you only see one graphics source in this list, it means you don’t have two graphics processing units. You can tell if you have two GPUs by going to → About this Mac → System Report → Graphics/Displays on your Mac.Īs you can see from my report, my 2012 15” MacBook Pro with Retina display has both an AMD Radeon M9 graphics card and the Intel Iris Pro integrated graphics: Questions? Comments? Post them below or email us!īe sure to check us out on Twitter and the CNET Mac forums.4) What to do if you don’t see the Automatic graphics switching option on Mac? How to tell if you have dual GPUs This may be convenient for some users however, it is still an experimental feature so try or use it with caution.ĭownload gfxCardStatus from the developer's website, it's free! The screen will go blue and then black, but will then reappear and the secondary GPU will be used. While the program is built for the new Core i5 and Core i7 computers, I am able to run it just fine on a Core2 Duo system running the GeForce 9400M/9600M combination however, it is not supported and claims my system is running the GeForce 330M regardless of what GPU I have running.ĭespite this, the program does offer a unique advantage to users of the older MacBook Pro models, in that the GPU switching feature does allow for you to switch GPUs without logging out and closing down your applications. In addition to notifications and alerts, gfxCardStatus will list any processes that are using the current graphics processor, and allow you to manually switch the active GPUs on the system. If you have the Growl notification system installed, gfxCardStatus will inform you in real-time whenever the graphics processor is changed. When the system's computing demands change and the GPU is switched, this utility will show the switches in real-time, either by displaying an "n" (GeForce 330M) or a "i" (Intel HD) in the menu. GfxCardStatus is a small menu extra that displays which graphics card is the active one. The menu extra allows you to quickly change GPUs without logging out, including on older MacBook Pro systems. This is convenient however, Apple does not provide an easy way to manage the different GPUs on the system, and if you like to tinker you may find the utility gfxCardStatus useful, both for newer and older machines. On Apple's latest MacBook Pro systems, the dual GPU setup allows for dynamic switching between the onboard and discrete graphics chips to optimize performance and battery life, depending on the tasks at hand.
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