Late 2008 MacBook Pro screen flicker/blink fix
I’ve been noticing a slight flickr in my MacBook Pro’s display lately, mostly when an external display is connected and only when booted into Mac OS X (I also run Windows for games). This morning I did a quick Google on the subject and came-up with what seems to be the most likely cause and fix.
MacBook Pros are more likely to exhibit this issue when using the GeForce 9400M integrated GPU (Better battery life) rather than the GeForce 9600M GT standalone card for better performance. This makes total sense; the lesser GPU would be more stressed by also running an external display.
With a quick check of my Energy Saver preferences I noticed that my MBP was somehow set back to the “Better battery life” setting (ie the GeForce 9400M integrated GPU)… This may also explain lower framerates when I’m playing games in Windows. I reset my PRAM and switched back to the “Better performance” setting, and so far so good.
[fix via macfixit.com]
