NP8170 - use integrated graphics to save battery?

On the NP8170, is it possible to switch between the discrete graphics card and the integrated Sandy Bridge graphics to save battery life? Given how much juice the 4XXM sucks down, I imagine you could get some pretty dramatic increases in battery life for when you're not gaming.

 

The short answer is no. None of the offerings in the NP81xx line have switchable graphics. This is a dealbreaker for some, but there are very many others who not only do not mind, but also prefer not having the current, bug-ridden iteration of Optimus.

 

Clevo 81xx models don't support switcheable graphics, if you didn't know about this before you can confirm it going through the various threads with similar titles in this forum.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/567730-npnp8170-vs-m17x-6970m-switchable-graphics.html

Another topic with the same question.

From what it says in the topic, the motherboard on the NP8170/NP8150 does not support integrated graphic switching unfortunately.

 

And yet, wouldn't a manual switch be the best of both worlds? And it's still not included, and the R3 has it. That's what's making me lean towards the R3 and away from the 8170.

If I could rely on a Clevo refresh in, say, 4 months with a high performance card, AND manual switch, I'd do it, but I don't want to take the chance that it doesn't, and keep suffering with this damned netbook.

 

If Clevo do not implement the feature into their motherboards, there won't be any support for integrated graphics switch full stop.

For those who absolutely must have more battery life out of their high-end performance gaming machines, then the Alienware alternative is currently the only option. However, it seems 81xx owners with high-end GPUs still see more than 2 hours battery life if systems are properly configured.

 

Furthermore, different AW owners are seeing different values for their battery life. Some report as low as 4 hours on iGPU and others are reporting as high as 6 hours....I'm assuming they're doing the same thing (low screen brightness, web browsing, document editing, maybe wifi off), but that's a big assumption.

Mr. Mysterious

 

I've seen testing bring it to 5:55 with brightness min., wifi/BT radios off, but using Word/OOO and web browsing, on the AW.

I've also heard the 8170 can hit 2:45 with those settings... But the same cost, for faster support and twice the battery? Yesplease.

I'm a major fan of Sager products, but not atleast including a manual switch is a little ridiculous for the gamer AND busy bee worker on the go.