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List of programs that use discrete graphics in i5/i7 MacBook Pros
- Thread starter Tegeril
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Maybe you should start listing the Apps that DO NOT trigger the 330M.
That looks like a seriously flawed Auto-Switching. They really need to implement an only integrated option in the control panel. It really looks like whenever an application uses any OpenGL or similar API the 330M switches on but in almost all cases the Intel HD will still be sufficient.
VLC or some Mediaplayer that plays XVID, DVD or even h264 does not need 330M. The Intel HD does just fine in everything that does not need heavy 3D power or GPGPU aka OpenCL resources.
If they cannot get it right they should offer a manual option, where you can manage a list of apps that will trigger the 330M maybe select on install if it does trigger any of the APIs.
I hope somebody comes up with a hack that enables manual switching.
That looks like a seriously flawed Auto-Switching. They really need to implement an only integrated option in the control panel. It really looks like whenever an application uses any OpenGL or similar API the 330M switches on but in almost all cases the Intel HD will still be sufficient.
VLC or some Mediaplayer that plays XVID, DVD or even h264 does not need 330M. The Intel HD does just fine in everything that does not need heavy 3D power or GPGPU aka OpenCL resources.
If they cannot get it right they should offer a manual option, where you can manage a list of apps that will trigger the 330M maybe select on install if it does trigger any of the APIs.
I hope somebody comes up with a hack that enables manual switching.
Yeah, it's pretty messy. For example, Espresso doesn't immediately trigger the 330m, but when I was doing "find in files" and scrolling through the results, it would hang for a split second, toggle the 330m on, and never turn it off again until the app quit.
Not Cinch! :/ please Apple fix this now. And add a settings for Intel HD usage only when on Battery.
The best thing you can do is go to Apple's bug reporter (bugreporter.apple.com) and file an enhancement request.
Use BetterTouchTool instead: it's free, does the same as Cinch (plus much more) and doesn't trigger the NVidia card.
Sure it can. But it would be a harder issue to tackle. Best bet is Apple allow manual override on applications. Simply have an application let the computer know to never activate the 330m when open.
i wonder why chrome is on the list. this disappoints me.
Chrome doesn't cause the problem all the time... It depends on war web functionality you're using...
As Sneakz suggested, what I was really getting at was that it would be best to file an enhancement request to Apple to change the way graphics switching is currently implemented. Sure, an individual application developer can change their code to make fewer calls to the GPU, but the best bet lies with Apple.
This does bring up a bit of a conflict of interest though. Apple is really interested in using the GPU to offload tasks from the CPU to improve performance that the CPU is not designed to perform. What would really be best in my mind is that the current switching method remain with one additional setting, a switch to change between 'favor performance' and 'favor battery life' that would change the criteria that triggers the GPU from a set of GPU calls to a subset of those calls when you choose battery life.