4k screen + Intel HD Graphics 4600

Well, my Alienware 15 passed my first couple months of testing for the most part (thanks to the Microsoft Store and their bloatware-free laptops). The 4k screen have on it is absolutely mind blowing, except for a few things. Windows scaling isn't perfect, but I'm getting a Dell U2414h 1080p external monitor soon so that should fix the issue (for the most part, especially with W10's independent screen scaling option).

However, back to the real issue, seems like performance in browsers such as Chrome and Firefox has been lacking. My internet connection is s*** where I am but that's not the real issue. Seems like animations are choppy while running on Intel HD Graphics 4600, and that's just the start. Agar.io has horrible framerates and YouTube videos can't play at 60fps and are overall pretty choppy to begin with. Switching to my 970m makes everything much better, but I lose battery life when I'm not plugged in. Also, uning Edge browser on HD Graphics works just fine for the most part and takes care of those issues.

P.S. I have an upcoming Alienware 15 Signature Edition (extensive) review coming up soon. It will be a work on progress, I have much to say about this thing.

 

Just to add, does anybodyelse have this issue? I really like Chrome and Firefox and I'd like to keep them as my primary browsers. Does anybody have a fix?

 

It is just what 4K does to your system. the intel 4600 wasn't really designed for performance 4K output, just merely for powerpoints/images, not much else. The 970M handles 4K exponentially better than the HD 4600, which is why you notice less lag/choppiness. 4K is extremely taxing on GPUs.

 

The thing is it works fine on edge browser.... There are problems with Chrome and Firefox maybe? Also, the videos I'm watching are turned down to 720p @60, so it can't be THAT taxing, right?. However I notice better performance while out of full screen, smooth 60fps.

 

Is anyone else with an Alienware 15 experiencing this with their 4k screen? The only reason I went with this screen is because I could get it and a larger capacity SSD without any bloatware foir a cheaper price than the 1080p option.

 

Hi. You mention you "switch" to your 970m GPU? How do you do this? How do you switch back and forth from Intel to nvidia?

 

Dell/Alienware made a very clean install out-of-the-box, so props to them in this regard. Signature Edition is great for shoddy ones like Lenovo though.

Yes, this happens on my AW15 as well. It's due to content not being graphics accelerated properly. There might be workarounds to force it with Intel HD 4600, but I prefer using Edge for battery life and use the Nvidia while on Chrome.

It's dependant on a lot more factors: e.g. sketchy HEVC (aka h265) decoding, variable bitrate of 4K content. In most cases, it will fallback to the CPU, and that's slow.

Mainly because it's streaming at a lower resolution once out of fullscreen mode.

 

How did you switch to your 970m? I have this exact issue. My window opening animations, etc are all laggy. How can i switch to my 960m?