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HawaiiMacAddict

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 28, 2006
904
0
On one of my Macs of course
Aloha everyone,

I noticed while in Windows via Boot Camp that I do not have the ability to switch off the discrete graphics. Actually, my leg got just a bit burned - it was pretty hot, even through my blue jeans. Does anyone know of a way to use the integrated graphics only while in Windows?

HawaiiMacAddict
 
Aloha everyone,

I noticed while in Windows via Boot Camp that I do not have the ability to switch off the discrete graphics. Actually, my leg got just a bit burned - it was pretty hot, even through my blue jeans. Does anyone know of a way to use the integrated graphics only while in Windows?

HawaiiMacAddict

I'm pretty sure there's no way of doing this yet. I'm really hoping for a workaround as well, it runs too hot in discrete mode.
 
This is definitely on my list of wants too but unfortanetly there's isn't a way yet.
 
Any progress on this front?

I need to squeeze every bit of battery life I can out of my 2010 17" MacBook Pro when running Windows. Runing Windows in a virtual machine is a power and resource hog. And running it using Boot Camp sticks me with discete graphics which is also a power hog. Has Apple done anything to provide a way to force the use of integrated graphics under Windows? Has anyone else figured out a way?
 
I need to squeeze every bit of battery life I can out of my 2010 17" MacBook Pro when running Windows.
There is none. You should have bought a Windows Notebook with decent Windows drivers if you rely on Windows so much.
 
There is none. You should have bought a Windows Notebook with decent Windows drivers if you rely on Windows so much.

This. My ThinkPad gets anywhere between 7 to 8 hrs of battery life for example.
 
In short or realistically, no.

However, I was under the impression that before you install the ATI/Nvidia drivers, the unit runs off of the integrated card. (and someone please correct me if i'm wrong)
I don't have Windows on my Mac right now to do it for you, but I would go into device manager, disable the dedicated card, restart, and then open device manger again and see if it's running off the integrated. If it is, you can just go to Intel's site and download their driver, however you'd have to go through the same process if you want to re-enable it. Plus, it really won't save you too much heat, Windows on a Mac notebook generally makes it hot, reduces the battery life severely, and overall just isn't as economical as Mac OS when running on your machine.
If you plan on doing a lot of work in windows that doesn't require much power, just buy a $299 "craptop" as I call them.
 
]However, I was under the impression that before you install the ATI/Nvidia drivers, the unit runs off of the integrated card. (and someone please correct me if i'm wrong)
No it isn't. Before installing bootcamp drivers it is just running a generic Mircosoft driver that is really slow and basic but has nothing to do with the integrated GPU. The Intel GPU is disabled at BIOS level, UEFI level actually.
There is no way of changing that by just switching some drivers.
You'd need to edit the UEFI settings and if you don't want to restart and edit the UEFI everytime you restart you'd need some special drivers which support the odd multiplexing that nobody else but Apple uses anymore. Getting your hands on such drivers for Windows that work for Apples custom design logicboard/mulitplex wiring is pretty much impossible.
If you figure out a way to edit the UEFI stuff you'd just be served with a really inconvenient either/or setup.
 
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