I recently scored a 2012 MacBook Pro (I7-3615QM) with integrated HD 4000 and a dedicated GT 650M. I have a specific use case for this machine, so I booted into openSUSE but ran into issues with the BCM4331 WiFi driver. After a few rough installations, I managed to get the NVIDIA drivers working nicely. However, I'm having a tough time getting GPU swapping to work effectively because the GT 650M drains my battery unnecessarily when I only need it for heavier graphics tasks. I've gone back and forth between openSUSE and Debian, but I'm still struggling with WiFi stability on openSUSE and consistent GPU switching. Can anyone help me find a solution? I'm not looking to use more complex distributions like Mint or Gentoo, as I don't have time for that right now.
1 Answer
To get GPU switching working, you definitely need to install the proprietary NVIDIA drivers. This will allow you to use the `prime-run` command to run apps on the NVIDIA GPU. Unfortunately, automatic switching may not work well with older Macs. If issues persist, switching from Wayland to X11 might help with compatibility.
I got the proprietary NVIDIA drivers running on openSUSE too, but when I tried switching to the HD 4000 for better battery life, it broke. Seems to be pretty tricky!