

- #Choose better graphics card for macbook pro how to
- #Choose better graphics card for macbook pro pro
- #Choose better graphics card for macbook pro software
How to toggle Automatic Graphics Switching on or off On the other hand, if you want to turn it on to conserve power for an on-the-go lifestyle, like most people buy notebooks for, then this option should be important to you because you won’t want to waste battery life by using your discreet graphics card to render normal macOS interfaces and view video playback when you don’t need that kind of horsepower to drive that stuff. These users don’t need Automatic Graphics Switching as much as a typical user and can let the computer run off of the discreet graphics card all the time because they’re typically connected to a power source to keep their game playing from killing their computer too quickly. This is typically the case with gamers who want the best graphical performance.

If you’re always tethered to a power source, then you might not care as much about the power efficiency of your MacBook Pro.
#Choose better graphics card for macbook pro pro
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.
#Choose better graphics card for macbook pro software
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. 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: The reason it only exists on certain models of the MacBook Pro is not all Macs have dual GPUs, and the desktop Macs that do don’t need a low power mode since they don’t rely on batteries and are connected to a power source all the time. The feature is only available on MacBook Pros that have two graphics processing units ( GPU). Depending on the model of MacBook Pro you have, you may be able to physically choose whether your computer uses the high power discreet graphics card for better performance or the low power integrated graphics chip for better battery life by using an option known as Automatic Graphics Switching.
