New User using a late 2011 MBP, 10.13.6, and gfxcardstatus 2.5 about gfxcardstatus HOT 1 CLOSED

Hi @lalicatala,

Lots to unpack here.

2. I cannot seem to get gfxcardstatus to stay in "discrete" mode. After every crash, user selected restart / shutdown, gfxcardstatus is dynamic user. So, how do I get it to stick in discrete mode???

gfxCardStatus always defaults to Dynamic Switching at startup—that's expected behavior.

If you want the machine to always use the discrete GPU, you don't need gfxCardStatus at all. You can quit gfxCardStatus, trash it, go to System Preferences > Energy Saver, and uncheck the Automatic graphics switching checkbox. While gfxCardStatus is running, it manages that checkbox for you, so be sure to quit and delete gfxCardStatus first if you decide to go that route.

3 When I finally do get gfxcardstatus in discrete mode, if smarticons is selected, the menu app becomes an script "a." If not, a plaintext "d." I am unsure which preference I should select as "a" for discrete mode does not make much sense to me. Is there a preference as to which to select to minimize crashes?

The “smart menu bar icons” setting is a (poorly-named) legacy setting that just changes the icon that you see in the menu bar depending on which GPU brand you have. With that setting disabled, it's i for integrated and d for discrete. With the setting enabled, it's i for Intel and a for AMD (or n for NVIDIA).

4. Unable to select Integrated only mode no matter how many times I click on it.

This is #310.

I don't have any particular suggestions other than to try to hold out a little longer until the new machines come out.

from gfxcardstatus.