Has Graphics Card switching been improved in Lion? Restart still needed?

[iFanboy]

I have a 2009 Macbook Pro unibody as described in sig.

I am mildly irritated at having to restart/log out and then log back in to switch to the better graphics card for the more graphically intensive apps.

Does Lion still switch graphics cards this way, or does it now switch without a restart/automatically?

 

[kristoffers4]

Don't think you'll be able to switch graphics without logging out...

 

[mrapplegate]

Don't think you'll be able to switch graphics without logging out...

You can. This was fixed a long time ago.
A long time ago = 2010

 

[Firen]

If you switch your graphic card over the normal energy saving menu in the setting you still have to log out (DP4). At least on my mid 2009 Macbook Pro.

 

[mrapplegate]

If you switch your graphic card over the normal energy saving menu in the setting you still have to log out (DP4). At least on my mid 2009 Macbook Pro.

[url=http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/7812/bildschirmfoto20110612u.th.png]Image[/URL]

Not on my Late 2010 MacBook Pro i5 in DP4. I don't need to log out.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Look for gfxcardstatus by codekrieger, which enables GPU switching on 2008 and 2009 Aluminium MacBook Pros without logging out (a restart has never been required). It works on my 2009 MBP.

 

[alust2013]

Not on my Late 2010 MacBook Pro i5 in DP4. I don't need to log out.

You never needed to on the i5s.

OP, I believe you can use gfxCardStatus to change without logging out

 

[mrapplegate]

You never needed to on the i5s.

OP, I believe you can use gfxCardStatus to change without logging out

*Smacks head* You're right. The issue will still be there in older models in Lion unless gfxCardStatus is used.

 

[Firen]

I use gfxcardstatus on my Snow Leopard partition and it sometimes bugs out heavily... (screen freezes every 10 seconds for 20 seconds until i switch back to the other graphic card for example).

I have yet to try it out on Lion.

 

[baryon]

That would be awesome, I have a Late 2008 MBP and I have the crappy nVidia 9400M and the also crappy 9600M. The 9400 is extremely slow and the 9600 makes my mac Kernel Panic, so it would be nice to be able to switch to it just for an hour or something, and then switch back to 9400 before a panic occurs. Logging out makes me not use the 9600 ever. At least you'll have Resume to make that easier though.

 

[kristoffers4]

You can. This was fixed a long time ago.
A long time ago = 2010

He's talking about his 2009 MBP, those do not have the automatic graphics like your MBP has....

 

[mrapplegate]

He's talking about his 2009 MBP, those do not have the automatic graphics like your MBP has....

Yes, hence my *smacks head* post after alust2013 reminded me

 

[ckoerner]

If you switch your graphic card over the normal energy saving menu in the setting you still have to log out (DP4). At least on my mid 2009 Macbook Pro.

[url=http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/7812/bildschirmfoto20110612u.th.png]Image[/URL]

I can confirm the same with the GM release. It looks like if you had to logout to switch cards in Snow Leopard you'll still have to in Lion.

http://i.imgur.com/013T2.png

 

[aznguyen316]

I've noticed in Lion, gfxCardStatus doesn't seem to work very well. It works, but has errors switching, not that SL didn't but it seems to get "stuck" more often between battery and AC.

 

[baryon]

The fix: Don't use your discreet graphics card at all. That way you never have to worry about rebooting to switch, and rebooting again when you want to unplug your computer, and rebooting AGAIN when you plug it back.

True, it makes your computer much slower, but it's worth it.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

The fix: Don't use your discreet graphics card at all. That way you never have to worry about rebooting to switch, and rebooting again when you want to unplug your computer, and rebooting AGAIN when you plug it back.

True, it makes your computer much slower, but it's worth it.

What rebooting?

 

[Sneakz]

This version works with Lion https://github.com/codykrieger/gfxCardStatus/wiki/v2.1-Beta-Information

 

[Biolizard]

It's likely a hardware thing so no version of OS X will ever truly help those of us with 9400M/9600M.

BUT what Lion will do is offer Resume. Half the reason I never really stray from the 9400M is not so much the logging out but the fact that it disrupts all the apps I have open. Lion should fix this because after logging back in, apps will all open back to where they were like you never logged out.

 

[aznguyen316]

This version works with Lion https://github.com/codykrieger/gfxCardStatus/wiki/v2.1-Beta-Information

thank you very much! I checked the site, did not see this beta version. Looks like it's working better now. Only issue, but I've always had this issue was changing power sources while laptop was in sleep mode. I could always fix it by forcing the integrated/discrete and it'd recognize it. This might be because I use power mode dependency for my gfx option.

 

[baryon]

What rebooting?

Okay, it's not literally "rebooting" but "logging out and logging back again". It's the same thing: you have to wait, close all your apps, save all your data, log off, then log back in, open up all your apps again. When you do this 4 times a day, you start to hate it a lot.

 

[rockstarjoe]

Okay, it's not literally "rebooting" but "logging out and logging back again". It's the same thing: you have to wait, close all your apps, save all your data, log off, then log back in, open up all your apps again. When you do this 4 times a day, you start to hate it a lot.

At least Lion will restore everything, right?

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Okay, it's not literally "rebooting" but "logging out and logging back again". It's the same thing: you have to wait, close all your apps, save all your data, log off, then log back in, open up all your apps again. When you do this 4 times a day, you start to hate it a lot.

This thread also pointed to gfxCardStatus and a Lion compatible version of it. I use that add on and only once logged out to switch GPUs (9400M and 9600M GT). Thus the procedure you described is not necessary.