I would like to run Ubuntu on my new Thinkpad E470. Is Nvidia Optimus supported? It used to be that you would have to run the proprietary drivers with the dGPU enabled always instead of using the iGPU. Has the situation improved, especially regarding battery life? If possible I would just run with the iGPU as I don't plan to do any gaming. Would I just refrain from installing the proprietary driver to achieve this?
If you only want to use your Intel card, your best bet is to enter your BIOS/UEFI configuration and set the option for using only the iGPU. However, if you think you will want to use the Nvidia card too (e.g. for SuperTuxKart), your best bet seems to be Bumblebee. Bumblebee runs everything on the iGPU by default, and you can run specific applications on the dGPU by prefixing the command with optirun, e.g. optirun supertuxkart. Install it by running:
sudo apt-get install bumblebee bumblebee-nvidia primus nvidia-340
(You may want to use a newer version of the Nvidia drivers, just change 340 to whatever version you want.)
Alternatively, you could just use nvidia-prime, which allows switching between the GPUs using sudo prime-select (intel/nvidia), but this solution requires a reboot after switching for the changes to take affect. (and who wants to reboot just to play a few minutes of SuperTuxKart?)
Relevant links:
Do I need to install Bumblebee for Hybrid Graphics system to enable Optimus on Ubuntu 16.04?
How to set up nVidia Optimus/Bumblebee in 14.04 (note that the UI mentioned in the top answer no longer exists)
https://bumblebee-project.org/
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bumblebee
http://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/4/SLN298431/a-guide-to-nvidia-optimus-on-dell-pcs-with-an-ubuntu-operating-system?lang=EN (shows how to use nvidia-prime)
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