This may work with other Macbook Pro models that have an Intel GPU and a NVidia one, but I only have proof that this works on a MacBook Pro Mid 2014 (MacBookPro11,3) with Ubuntu 18.04.
If you want to be sure about which model you have, run sudo dmidecode -t system in the Terminal and you will see the information about the system including the serial number and product name (MacBookPro11,3 in my case).
I'm assuming you have installed the NVidia propietary drivers, which can be installed from the application "Software & Updates" in the tab "Additional Drivers".
Steps to use the Intel GPU:
- Run
lspci |grep VGAand check that only one line mentioning "NVIDIA" is printed. This is to be sure that you are required to do the following steps. If two lines appear, and one of those mentions "Intel", then you probably do not need to activate the GPU but only select it as the main GPU (jump to the step where you have to "Opennvidia-settings"). - Download
apple_set_os.efifrom https://github.com/0xbb/apple_set_os.efi/releases - Run
sudo mkdir /boot/efi/EFI/custom - Run
sudo cp apple_set_os.efi /boot/efi/EFI/custom/ - Run
sudo gedit /etc/grub.d/40_custom - Add the following at the bottom and save the file:
search --no-floppy --set=root --file /EFI/custom/apple_set_os.efi
chainloader /EFI/custom/apple_set_os.efi
boot
- Run
sudo update-grub - Download
gpu-switchfrom https://github.com/0xbb/gpu-switch/blob/master/gpu-switch - Run
sudo ./gpu-switch -i - Reboot
- Open
nvidia-settings - Go to "PRIME Profiles"
- Click on "Intel (Power Saving Mode)"
- Click on "Quit"
- Log out
References:
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When I used this method I only wanted to use the Intel GPU, I didn't want to switch between the two constantly. I don't remember if I ever changed it 🤔. But I do remember that at the time it wasn't possible to switch "on-demand/automatically" between the two, if that's what you are asking. Apologies, if I misunderstood.