How to switch to dedicated grapics card

[Fier]

how do i switch to my nvidia dedicated graphics card on my laptop, and can i switch and use that graphics card to watch youtube, netflix and my torrents?

 

[abaday789]

I very much doubt that you can change the graphics card in your laptop unless anyone else knows otherwise

 

[DHFF]

Graphics cards are almost always integrated into the mainboard on laptops. not a lot you can do with that. Gaming laptops will have high end dedicated graphics but they will still be incorporated into the mainboard and non removable.

 

[Solandri]

how do i switch to my nvidia dedicated graphics card on my laptop, and can i switch and use that graphics card to watch youtube, netflix and my torrents?

If this is a newer laptop with nvidia Optimus, then right-click your desktop. Click on NVIDIA Control Panel. In the program that pops up, click Manage 3D settings. That will allow you to customize which graphics card (integrated or nvidia) each program uses.

Unfortunately, there is one pretty big problem with this. Optimus laptops always use the integrated graphics. That is, the laptop's screen is always driven by the integrated Intel graphics. When a 3D game uses the nvidia graphics, it uses it as a co-processor. The nvidia card draws a frame in its internal memory, then sends it to the integrated graphics. The integrated graphics then displays it onto the laptop screen.

This means that certain older programs which don't know about systems with two graphics cards, and certain video acceleration which was never designed to use a graphics co-processor will never be able to use your nvidia graphics. The web browser you're using for Youtube, Netflix may not be capable of using the nvidia card in your laptop. Nvidia Control Panel will let you assign the browser to always use the nvidia card, but the browser may simply ignore this setting and use the integrated Intel graphics.