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Comment by Runways | Hacker News Reader

If you could make it so you can completely turn off the dGPU through software (boot menu?), pulling no power, it would be insane. I would love the power of a dGPU to play casually on trips but turn it off for normal use when I'm just working. Also, I LOVE that it wouldn't look like a gaming laptop. I'm tired of the gamer-esque design cues, even when they're subtle (RGB keyboards are okay if configurable).

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Heck, I'd love to not even carry the GPU unless I want to use it. What ever happened to external GPUs for mobile gaming? I faintly remember hearing about them years ago, but I don't know if there were ever practical consumer/prosumer products. I imagine it's not uncommon for some laptop users to carry Thunderbolt docks that are pretty beefy (the one I use weighs a full pound, although I almost never carry it with me), and I would bet you could fit a decent mobile GPU in a similar or smaller form factor.

You can completely turn off dGPUs from software nowadays. In theory the driver should do it for you when it's not in use (And I find this works well for me), but you can also forcefully turn them off, both on Windows and Linux, such that they draw exactly 0W.

Hmmm. My experience with XPS 15s is you can turn it off with software in Linux, but it was pretty technical (not something average users would be keen on). I wasn't sure if that was the case for most laptops. It definitely wasn't drawing 0W when I was just coding/browsing/etc though, it doubled the battery life in Linux when I turned it off.

It depends on how recent the motherboard and GPU is, if you have an NVidia dGPU. If you have a GPU made in the last two years and a recent CPU, it works automatically out of the box with X11. On older systems, it's pretty technical, but thankfully many distributions now come with tools that handle it all for you and give you a button you can click to turn it off.

Yeah, my experience with iGPU+dGPU setups outside of MacBooks has been messy. Part of the problem perhaps is the various different ways it can be set up, e.g. with/without mux switch, and last I knew AMD and Nvidia handle iGPU ↔ dGPU handoffs differently rather than agreeing on a standard.

With that in mind I'd also prefer that there be a way to flip off the dGPU in BIOS to guarantee that it can't unexpectedly become a power vampire.

AMD and NVidia now use the same standard, which is PRIME for handoff and automatic shutdown using Runtime PM, and if needed muxes are handled by the vga-switcheroo.

On the latest NVidia/AMD hardware, no configuration should be required, unless you try to use Wayland on NVidia.

Unfortunately on NVidia you really need the latest hardware, both on the GPU and CPU side. If you do, it should generally "just work". Of course Linux is Linux and it might not.

I don’t think apple gets enough credit for how good their automatic graphics switching implementation was. I’d argue that most users who benefitted from it didn’t even know it was happening. It’s such a useful feature too, because dGPUs generally kill notebook batteries, and even at idle, they probably generate an impactful amount of heat.

Is there truly no equivalent to apples automatic graphic switching for PC laptops? If so that’s WILD.

ASUS laptops, as of 6.1, I think, have kernel support and a userspace CLI and GUI to trivially configure this stuff (`asusctl`). In Windows, you can use GHelper and avoid the hundreds of megabytes of gaudy crap that is Armory Crate to configure this as well.

`asusctl` (the CLI), and `rog-control-center` (the GUI) lets you configure fan curves, "ultimate mode" (mux switch), LED lights, effects, panel overdrive, battery charge limit and more

And then `supergfxctl`, when "ultimate mode" is disabled, allows you to configure "Hybrid" or "Integrated"(-only) graphics modes.

For completeness/disclosure, flipping the mux switch aka Ultimate mode on/off) requires reboot, though it seems this may become unnecessary with new/future hybrid graphics tech in laptops.

ASUS should shower the developer in money, this G14 2022, all AMD is the most satisfying, best, complete out of box Linux experience I've ever had. And I've owned a lot of Lenovos, Dells, etc.

That's really interesting to know. Thanks for mentioning it. The laptop sounds fantastic too: https://www.notebookcheck.net/Asus-ROG-Zephyrus-G14-GA402R-G...

Looks wise, it reminds me of my Legion 5i Pro 2022 if only for the back part (I/O, exhaust). There's more laptop behind the display unlike most laptop designs where the display is the edge.

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