How exactly do the switchable graphics in the dv6 work

I know this sounds stupid but I wanted to know how do you switch GPUs. For eg on my brothers m17x r3 you push a button to switch gpus, is that how it works on the dv6 or do you have to change it using the and software?

 

Pure software which you have to manually switch by HP's CCC.

 

Can't you select auto switch (especially during boot) for either on Battery or Outlet?

 

The Switchable Graphics is basically Manual or Automatic (Based on power source - Battery or AC). For manual switching, you just right click on desktop, there is an option Configure Switchable Graphics, you click on it and a window of CCC appears containing two buttons - High-performance GPU and Power-saving GPU. Just click on the required button and a message appears stating to close all open programs, just click on Change. Then, the screen goes black and flickers twice and the switching is done.

 

The only true automatic feature only apply to boot up, it will switch when bootup on battery, which is intel. Plugged in, loads up the amd card.
(You could shave off an extra 3 secs of boot time by defaulting to intel by disabling the automatic switch)

The other so called automatic just throws a prompt to confirm the switch when changing the source.

There's a bug that sometimes it switch without confirmation when changing the power source.

Also, the warning is a blanket warning about odd video behavior if you switch without closing all open programs. All you really need to do is to close any programs that utilize any 3d acceleration. But close all open applications is simpler.