I agree, laptops have moved to terrible intel GPUS and are much worse for it because intel conned oems into thinking it was a decent GPU. They brand them as "multimedia" which just means it can stream video up to its screen resolution at 110C
Sure, an external dedicated GPU is nice to have, but being able to buy a decent processor (ie. Pentium G4560) with an integrated GPU for 50 dollars is really awesome, if you're on a tight budget.
PS: I'm writing this on a laptop that has the very first Intel HD Graphics (1st gen i7). I don't have any problem with it, except gaming and a two monitor limit.
I am currently typing this from a bus on a Dell Alienware 13 r3 which has both an integrated Iris and a discrete Nvidia. TBH, I run my Ubuntu environment through the integrated graphics chip for the watt savings and because 90% of the stuff I do under Linux performs flawlessly on the integrated GPU.
Of course I can switch to the Nvidia GPU using `prime-select` but besides running games or playing with CUDA I don't need the GTX 1060 day-to-day.
$ sudo prime-select [nvidia|intel]
For me, I don't mind the logout for swap so I just use the "prime-select" tool.
Edit: Here is the ppa:
https://launchpad.net/~graphics-drivers/+archive/ubuntu/ppa
It looks like there is a bumblebee something in there.
Here is a news blurb about it:
Sounds like the prime-select tool is what I needed. Oh well, glad I went from cutting edge SGI Infinite Reality 3D to integrated graphics over the years.
It worked a little like Wine does, you'd just wrap your program invocation with `optirun <game>` and it would set everything up for you. IIRC it was also possible to combine this with wine, `optirun wine <game>`. The first year after I got the laptop (this was maybe 5-6 years back) support was kind of flaky, but things got smoothed out pretty quickly.
Eventually I would just launch Steam with optirun and any programs started by Steam would inherit the dedicated GPU settings.
I haven't used a setup like that for a few years now, I'm sure it's only gotten better since. The Arch wiki has a good rundown.
those of us complaining are using them for gaming, or serious compute jobs.
Then... don't do that? Seriously, they're not intended for this. Are you also upset that your $50 Ryobi drill doesn't have enough torque to bolt together a 747?
$ sudo prime-select nvidia
$ sudo logout
Seems like genuine efforts to mitigate.
And if they dont intend it for gaming or any GPU usage ( Which is perfectly fine ), how about stop wasting silicon on GPU? After all the majority cost of developing GPU isn't even in the hardware, but the software and support of drivers.
Damn, and that's one of the ones I would consider pretty bad. They started getting decent around Sandy Bridge / HD 3000. Before then, most 3d applications would just fail to open from my experience.
The worst part is that Intel has coerced OEMs into buying their integrated GPUs even if they buy a dedicated GPU for their laptop.
Imagine if ARM said that if you wanted its Cortex-A CPU, you had to use a Mali GPU, even if you also bought a PowerVR GPU to put in your device...That would be crazy, right? Then so is this.
Intel has done quite a few anti-competitive things since it was last sued (and lost) in the EU for such behavior, almost a decade ago. I wonder why no government body seems willing to take on it anymore. Everyone's tired of doing the whole antitrust dance with Intel again?
Limits of physics and engineering.
Will a reasonably powerful gaming card eventually draw the equivalent power of an integrated chip (when not gaming)? Probably. It seems like we're not there yet.
Most PC makers would do the same. The integrated GPUs are fine for most notebook tasks, even for power users, and they get much, much better battery life, which is one of the key things a notebook needs to do well. I'm on a rMBP and only my integrated GPU is in use right now because I'm not doing anything that needs the bigger, more power hungry GPU.