How do you update video drivers on the MacBook Pro?

[monkeycid]

Hi guys!

Trying to get the hang of using this beast. Amongst being my first laptop and Mac, it's also the first computer I've had that has used more than one video card so I am little confused when it comes to updating drivers.

On a MBP do I need to visit the nVidia and Intel websites to keep up-to-date with drivers or will Mac auto-update them for me? Also, do I need to do anything in particular when updating two separate drivers on one computer? Eg. Turn on/off auto-switching in Energy Saver?

 

[T5BRICK]

OSX will download the newest drivers from Apple. Although, driver updates don't happen too often. Usually they're just rolled into 10.x.x updates(when 10.8.3 comes out, it'll probably include some updated drivers)

 

[GGJstudios]

Trying to get the hang of using this beast. Amongst being my first laptop and Mac, it's also the first computer I've had that has used more than one video card so I am little confused when it comes to updating drivers.

On a MBP do I need to visit the nVidia and Intel websites to keep up-to-date with drivers or will Mac auto-update them for me? Also, do I need to do anything in particular when updating two separate drivers on one computer? Eg. Turn on/off auto-switching in Energy Saver?

You don't need to do anything to keep your drivers updated. Software Update will notify you if anything system-related needs to be updated.

This may be useful:

Helpful Information for Any Mac User
Portables Fast Start: The New User's Guide to Apple Notebooks​

 

[monkeycid]

Thanks for the quick replies and useful links!

I went into panic mode just now after visiting nVidia and seeing no support for Mac OS once I had selected my video card in the drop-down menus. Yikes! Relief to know they're covered automatically.

It seems with every little thing I do on this Mac is more convenient and easier than on a PC!

/crosses off having to check for drivers.

 

[GGJstudios]

It seems with every little thing I do on this Mac is more convenient and easier than on a PC!

/crosses off having to check for drivers.

You can basically forget all the "maintenance" or "clean up" tasks you may have done with Windows. None of that is necessary on Mac OS X.

 

[throAU]

Unfortunately, you can also forget about video performance improvements until Apple integrate whatever changes are made upstream by Nvidia or AMD to their drivers.

2 sides to every coin.... it's a trade-off.

 

[Xgm541]

Unfortunately, you can also forget about video performance improvements until Apple integrate whatever changes are made upstream by Nvidia or AMD to their drivers.

2 sides to every coin.... it's a trade-off.

If there is a serious driver issue, Apple often gets right on it. If it is just driver tweaking, I wouldn't be too upset to not get the 1% increase in performance right away.