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How to Identify iGPU and dGPU in Mid 2012 15" MBP?

S

Scoot65

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 7, 2017
162
74
England, United Kingdom
I'm looking to buy a mid 2012 15" MBP and after doing some reading I'm aware that there were problems with the 2011-2013 era 15" MBPs with AMD and Nvidea with the discrete graphics card.

How can I tell if the graphics card in a MBP is integrated GPU rather than dGPU?
Which specs do I need to identify an iGPU?
 
The 15-inch, Mid 2012 MBPro all have the same graphics chips. There's two, the Intel HD graphics 4000 (integrated and sharing memory with the main memory), and the discrete NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M, with its own 1GB of VRAM. The 2012 was last 15-inch available that was still user upgradeable, and was released at the same time as the retina 15-inch, which has soldered-in RAM memory. Both came with the same two graphics chips.
So, to answer your question, if you buy a 15-inch, 2012 MBPro, it comes with the two chips, one integrated (Intel), and the other discrete (NVIDIA). No AMD graphics on the 2012 models.
 
Thanks for the replies. Much appreciated!
I'm surprised to read that the 2012 MBP doesn't have issues with dGPU failing due to me reading various posts on here.......... pleased to hear it though! Thanks.
 
Scoot65 said:
Thanks for the replies. Much appreciated!
I'm surprised to read that the 2012 MBP doesn't have issues with dGPU failing due to me reading various posts on here.......... pleased to hear it though! Thanks.
Click to expand...

They can fail of course, like any electronic component at any time for any number of reasons. But it isn't a known inherent issue like the 2011. The 650M in the 2012 has proved to be pretty damn reliable.
 
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