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I'm trying to download a game on my macbook pro. On the game's site, it gives the following minimum requirements:

OS: OS X 10.8.5 or higher 
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 
Memory: 4 GB RAM 
Graphics: GeForce GT 650M 512MB (on 1440x900, low), 
          Radeon HD 5770 1GB (on 1440x900, low), 
          Intel integrated graphics chipsets are not supported 
Hard Drive: 25 GB HD space

My mac's specs are the following:

OS: 10.11.4 (El Capitan)
Processor: 2.7GHz Intel Core i7
Memory: 16GB 1600MHz
Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 4000 1536MB
Hard Drive: 300 GB free space

While it says "intel integrated graphics are not supported", I'm not certain if the Intel HD Graphics 4000 is a type of "integrated" graphics card. I'm not too familiar with graphics cards, but this was a top-of-the-line laptop a few years ago and nothing special was done to it, so I can't see why my Mac would have a graphics card incompatible with a Mac game. If it is or isn't compatible, please explain why. Thanks everyone.

P.S. If it helps, the game is The Witcher 2 off of the Mac App Store. And when I look at my video cards on my system report, it says I also have the NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with a PCle bus instead of the built-in bus that the Intel HD card has. Does this mean that I could use this card to primarily play off of somehow? Just trying to provide as much information as possible.

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All Intel HD Graphics are integrated, meaning they reside on the CPU chip instead of a separate card. If you have a dedicated card, like the GT 650M, then the computer will always default to that and you should be OK.

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  • So the GT 650M comes as a dedicated graphics card? It seems that the Intel HD card is the primary one, but you're telling me that the game will automatically use the GT 650M instead, correct?
    – RoryHector
    May 13, 2016 at 2:02
  • It may be that the OS is automatically switching to the integrated graphics to save power when you are not playing a game. I don't have a mac to test, but you should be able to run any game/benchmark that shows the GPU and see if it shows the Intel or NVIDIA card.
    – CConard96
    May 13, 2016 at 2:11
  • @RoryHector It switches depending on application. It will normally default to the better card when plugged in. May 13, 2016 at 2:19
  • It does appear that the mac automatically switches between the two graphics cards for tasks that are more heavy on the GPU, so my dedicated graphics cards meets the minimum requirements. That's good enough for me to go ahead and buy it.
    – RoryHector
    May 13, 2016 at 2:20

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