Pop OS supports hybrid graphics effectively.
Pop OS supports hybrid graphics effectively.
I just went through the ugprade from 19.04 to 19.10 on my XPS 15 9560. It has hybrid graphics with Intel HD and an Nvidia GTX 1050 discrete card. Its always worked fine, but I would need to reboot when switching between the two. With the latest version of 19.10, there is an option to use them in hybrid mode, similar to how it works on Windows where it switches automatically between the two cards depending on whats being asked of the GPU. Just a heads up for those of you who might have been holding out on linux until this was available.
It's included in the latest Nvidia driver update. I'm not sure if Ubuntu has the GUI feature to adjust it, as I haven't tried it there. The GUI part is already available by default in Pop OS, so you should be able to turn it on from the terminal if needed.
I'm not sure about the details, but this hybrid mode likely balances performance and power use by switching between different graphics settings. It may run lighter applications smoothly on Intel GPUs while handling more demanding 3D tasks on dedicated NVIDIA hardware. The benefit probably lies in better efficiency and smoother operation.