New Laptop, Couple of Questions

[Dicorpo]

Hi guys,

Just bought a brand new Optimus IV laptop and I love it so much so far, it's awesome. I just had a couple of quick questions regarding the stuff it came with and also the VGA button.

1) It came with a few CD's (Device Drivers and Utilities + User Manual...Power DVD 10...Windows 8) and I was just wondering, do I need to install the driver CD thing or have they all been pre-installed and how can I check this?

2) The VGA button. What is UMA mode and what is Optimus and how do I make sure it's working as it should be?

Thanks for all your help,
Ben

 

[vanthus]

The drivers should be pre-installed,you can check in device manager to see if there are any problems.
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windows-8/a/device-manager-windows-8.htm
Far as I know though Power DVD 10 doesn't work for blu-rays in windows 8.
If it doesn't work you could try installing the free trial of Power DVD 12 for now.
http://www.cyberlink.com/downloads/trials/powerdvd/download_en_GB.html

 

[Dicorpo]

Thanks Vanthus, but what on Earth is the VGA button? What's UMA mode? How can I tell whether it's working properly? Thanks!

 

[vanthus]

Thanks Vanthus, but what on Earth is the VGA button? What's UMA mode? How can I tell whether it's working properly? Thanks!

I'm not too sure about that to be honest,have a look at the user manual on the supplied disk,that may help.
Failing that and you don't get a reply here,best to give PCS a call.

 

[Deleted member 17413]

Far as I know though Power DVD 10 doesn't work for blu-rays in windows 8.

This was due to a problem with PowerDVD 10 in the early days of Win 8 release, a new version of PowerDVD (PowerDVD 10.2) was released which sorted the issue and -should- now work...
This was actually a question i asked PCS directly after i read in a review from another customer about the Bluray/PowerDVD software not working, Hence how i found out about PowerDVD 10.2, which is what PCS now send out with their machines

 

[medge790]

Hi all,

Thanks Vanthus, but what on Earth is the VGA button? What's UMA mode? How can I tell whether it's working properly? Thanks!

Is there anyone out there who can answer these questions please?

Ta,
Mark

 

[WhatCanIKeep?]

Please see the image below which will explain in full what you need to know

UMA Mode is designed for maximum power saving, however this does have an effect on the systems overall video performance (as it is based on the Power saver power plan).

 

[medge790]

Hey, thanks for this! This looks like it comes from a user manual that I've not found yet (which I assume is on the drivers CD, right?), and may explain the graphics issue I'm seeing (see other post). Many thanks!

 

[1759]

Yip, you'll find it on the drivers cd

 

[Dicorpo]

Please see the image below which will explain in full what you need to know

UMA Mode is designed for maximum power saving, however this does have an effect on the systems overall video performance (as it is based on the Power saver power plan).

View attachment 2829

Thanks man! Very helpful!! So, it says it determines whether or not to use the iGPU/dGPU automatically...I can imagine this being annoying and I imagine it doesn't always get things right...is there a way to see which GPU is being used or a way to tell it to use the dGPU during gaming and what not? Or is the system in fact pretty good and will choose the correct GPU when under load?

Ben