New 2010 Macbook Pro’s Automatic Graphics Switching is kinda dumb
Apple introduced two graphics processors on Macbook Pro last year, but it doesn’t have that automatic graphic switching, you need to manually switch graphics and restart your Mac. The 2010 Macbook Pro is developed to fix that problem with Automatic Graphics Switching. While the Cupertino company admits that the switching doesn’t work when running windows under bootcamp or OS virtualization, reports has it that the Automatic GPU switching got other other issues.
The recently released Macbook Pro should be able to automatically manage when it switch between the weak intel GPU and better GPU when the need arises. However, Apple’s proprietary GPU switching technology looks at how the Application is made and checks if it needs a faster GPU based on how the App uses Core Technologies such as Core Image, Core Video, Core Animation, and OpenGL. On the other hand, nVIDIA’s Optimus Technology uses and maintains a whitelist of Applications, and switch GPU’s based on the Application. NVIDIA’s solution offers manual switching and easy GPU motioring unlike Apple’s own technology.
Engadget learnned that you can view what GPU your macbook is using by looking at the Display section of your Mac’s System Profile and discovered the following problems.
- When using Adobe Lightroom GPU doesnt switch to the discreen NVIDIA graphics.
- Watching Quicktime Movies on Chrome doesn’t switch back the intel GPU after playing the movie, you need to restart the browser.
- Tweetie, a non graphic intensive app uses the discreet Nvidia GPU
It shows that Apple’s own GPU switching technology doesn’t work as advertised. Perhaps Apple could fix it by a Macbook Pro firmware update and add manual GPU switching for times you need to save up battery life.
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