Re:Buying a laptop, check if it has nVidia Optimus, its purp...
by _delirium on Saturday January 25, 2014 @09:32AM
(#7120862)
Any idea why it needs a reboot? Some MacBook Pro models have that kind of switching (integrated Intel + discrete nVidia) but don't need a reboot to switch between them. Is it some architectural thing, an issue with the nVidia drivers, an issue with Windows, ...?
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Re:Buying a laptop, check if it has nVidia Optimus, its purp...
by thristian on Saturday January 25, 2014 @09:38AM
(#7120878)
Modern Mac OS X is a bit smarter about things, but I believe the original versions of Mac OS X that supported Optimus required you to restart the windowing system when switching GPUs. That required quitting all your apps, logging out, and logging back in, which is effectively a reboot for people who stick to GUI interaction.
Re:Buying a laptop, check if it has nVidia Optimus, its purp...
by _delirium on Saturday January 25, 2014 @09:45AM
(#7120895)
Doing a little searching, it seems it might be tied to the hardware as well, not just the OSX version (not sure if that's a real hardware limitation or a driver issue though). The dual-GPU MacBook Pros from mid-2010 onwards have "automatic graphics switching" that does it on the fly: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4110
You're right that the 2008/09 models required logging out/in to switch manually; I hadn't realized that: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3207
Re:Buying a laptop, check if it has nVidia Optimus, its purp...
by fatrachet on Saturday January 25, 2014 @10:08AM
(#7120962)
There is a OSX tool called gfxCardStatus that can switch GPUs without logging out on the 08 and 09 models, works great on my 09 MBP, so it only seems to be a driver issue not a hardware limitation.