- Apple macbook pro 2011 graphics card pro#
- Apple macbook pro 2011 graphics card software#
- Apple macbook pro 2011 graphics card free#
This can increase performance when plugged in and increase battery life when unplugged. There are preferences which allow you to tell it to set the graphics card to the less battery hungry integrated graphics when your computer is unplugged or to automatically turn on the more powerful discrete graphics card when you are plugged into power.
Apple macbook pro 2011 graphics card pro#
The drop down menu gives options including selection of the Intel only, AMD or NVIDIA only or Dynamic Switching, which is the default for the MacBook Pro and lets the computer decide automatically. In addition, if you would like to manually switch the computer between the two, you simply click the menu icon. The app will run in the background and any time the computer switches it will give you an onscreen notification (see above and below).
Apple macbook pro 2011 graphics card free#
It is a free app which you can get from the developer’s website. gfxcardstatus is a lightweight utility that runs in your menu bar and tells you exactly when that happens with on-screen notification. It is nice to know when the higher powered discrete graphics card is being used. The benefit is higher power when needed, but lower power consumption on the integrated graphics for ordinary tasks. Integrated graphics are for ordinary applications like Microsoft Word and a Twitter client. From an automotive analogy think of dynamic switching graphics as switching to four-wheel drive when driving off-road and two-wheel drive for driving around town. A high-powered gaming card is for more intense applications like Photoshop or Call of Duty. Having dynamic switching graphics is like being able to open the computer and put in a different graphics card for different scenarios, except you don’t have to dissect your MacBook Pro. The difference between integrated and discrete graphics is power – both consumption and horsepower to get work done. When your system needs a lot of graphics processing power for things like video encoding, picture editing or especially gaming, the computer switches from lowered powered integrated graphics to higher powered discrete graphics. The MacBook Pro has what is called switchable or dynamic switching graphics. Although this device is getting to be a bit long in the tooth, I figured I would at least share my findings with those who may be experiencing a similar issue with their older Apple hardware.If you ever want to know which graphics card your Apple MacBook Pro is using, then gfxcardstatus is the perfect utility. I also realize this device won’t last forever, so I suppose I’ll just have to continue saving up for its replacement. I know I could have just kept the default color profile, but I’ve grown rather accustomed to properly color-balanced displays. So at this point, I just decided to roll back to MacOS 10.12.6. For example, the external display may load a profile specific to that make and model, so be sure to change the color profile on the external display as well. The issue may also occur when an external display is connected. The only solution (again, in my situation) was to revert back to the original Color LCD profile.
Apple macbook pro 2011 graphics card software#
The profile I also had loaded was taken prior to upgrading, so I figured I would check for software updates for my color calibration software and re-calibrate. Since I also dabble in photography, I wanted the proper color balance for my display when editing and preparing photos for print. As I started researching this, it looks like Apple Mail and a few other apps were having similar behaviors.Īfter doing some additional reading and tinkering of my own, it looks like the root cause (at least for me) was due to the custom profile I had loaded on my Mac. However, if left unchecked, the item would then appear as a black square instead of an empty circle. When an item was checked, it still appeared as usual. On my system, this first became evident with checklist items in Apple Notes. (See WebGL Browser Report over at ).Īfter upgrading to High Sierra, I began to notice elements within MacOS were now showing up as black squares or rectangles. From what I’ve researched, it appears that WebGL was disabled in my browser because the Intel HD Graphics 3000 card isn’t supported. Even before the update, I noticed a few websites that utilized the WebGL API said that WebGL wasn’t enabled on my browser. It has become clear, however, that the internal graphics card is starting to become one of its weakest components.Įarlier this year, I upgraded from MacOS Sierra 10.12.6 to High Sierra 10.13.2. Another reason is that I just simply don’t have the funds to plop down on a newer model MacBook Pro. It’s got a Core i7, 8GB of RAM, and an SSD drive. I know what you’re probably thinking… It’s now 2018, so why are you still rocking a 13″ MacBook Pro from early 2011? Well, the simple reason is that for the most part, it still does what I need it to do.
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