So I've been playing Skyrim lately and have been getting horrible framerates. I've installed the newest nvidia drivers and tried everything, even setting quality down to low. I still get 16 FPS constantly.
My system's specs:
CPU: i7 2630QM
GPU: Nvidia GTX 460M
RAM: 6GB 667MhZ
Screen: 15 inch 1920x1080

Definitely make sure you're plugged in. That thing will downclock on battery.

All laptops with Intel processors have the bad habit of making the video from Intel the primary choice all the time because it uses less from the battery (and that is liable to happen whether running off wall power or not).

To my knowledge, there aren't many GTX460M equipped laptops with Optimus enabled though, and without Optimus, the IGP essentially is invisible anyway.

OP, could you list the laptop model? Pretty sure only Alienware made laptops configured for switchable graphics with that GPU.

I don't think that nVIDIA uses the term "Optimus" for any normal laptop GPUs at all, not what they are, or what they can do.

AFAIK, if it's an Optimus at all, it is only the BACK half of a GPU, and the Intel chip runs the front end all of the time. They use some other descriptive term for switching graphics when the complete GPU actually exists, the way I recall reading about it on their web site.

The whole point of Optimus, as described on Nvidia's website, is to use your dedicated graphics when the performance is needed, but use integrated instead of the power hungry GPU in light loads for the sake of efficiency and battery life.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/optimus_technology.html

Can even be implemented with the top spec 580M.

I'm using an MSI GT680, the intel graphics is invisible and only the nvidia one shows up. I'm plugged in all the time when I play games.