On my last laptop that died (intel i7 8750H + GTX 1060M) when I connected my VG27AQL1A monitor via the HDMI port, the GTX 1060M took over the external display and I had all the sections of the Nvidia Control Panel available. My monitor could do 144Hz in HDMI in 8bit color and 120Hz in HDMI in 10bit color.
On this new laptop, this is not the case. The Intel UHD graphics are taking control over the external display too. This means driver-level v-sync only works on Vulkan games, and I can only set resolution and refresh rate via the Display section in Windows 11's settings. The problem is that it mistakenly assumes the monitor is only capable of 120Hz in 8bit color and 59Hz in 10bit color.
I also can't make use of the HDR mode on my monitor on this laptop either. On my desktop (Ryzen 9, 3900x 32Gb 3200 DDR4, Gigabyte Eagle RTX3070 OC 8G), I use Nvidia's RTX HDR, part of the new beta Nvidia App, poised to replace both NCP and GFE, but I can't on the laptop, due to the integrated graphics taking over the display. The option for RTX HDR is simply not there. Windows Auto HDR also doesn't work on this laptop, and when I tried to stream true HDR videos on Edge, I had dim whites and raised blacks. I bet it's the Intel graphics that are overriding the display and the Intel graphics can't handle HDR, like a GPU can. The RTX HDR option in the "Videos" section of NCP also doesn't take effect when I stream SDR videos on Chrome or Edge, I get dim whites and raised blacks, and the entire time the video is playing the status indicator in NCP is always listed as "inactive".
I am waiting for a Thunderbolt 4 to DisplayPort 1.2 cable. Would the RTX 2050M take over the display if I connect my Monitor from the DisplayPort to the Thunderbolt 4 port?
Here is a screenshot showing the extremely limited options in the Nvidia Control Panel:
Here is a screenshot of Windows Display settings incorrectly detecting the refresh rate in 8-bit color (it should be 144Hz):
