[Update] I’d like to be clear right now what this article is about. It’s about Apple’s choice to get frameworks such as Core Image and OpenGL to direct which graphics card the Mac should use, and how by doing this, there have been some unusual cases whereby some applications cause the dedicated graphics card to be enabled, and continue to be enabled. This leads to a detrimental effect on battery life which is the exact opposite for putting this in place. With this in mind… read on.

I recently purchased on of the new MacBook Pro i5 models, one big reason was the lovely battery life of 8(ish) hours with the seamless graphics card switching from built-in to discrete. Apple’s theory being that you use the lower grade, lower power Intel graphics when you’re doing low graphics work on your Mac, like browsing, then switching to the full blow nVidia 330M card when you need to it to ratch out 3D graphics etc.

This all seemed like a massively great idea, and you can clearly see the benefits of it. However, it’s not perfect. As MacRumors and Engadget readers have reported, OS X’s decision on which graphics card to use in your new i5 or i7 MacBook Pro is far from ideal right now – and to back this up I have some rather alarming evidence.

OS X System Profiler Showing Integrated Graphics Running

Engadget gave some examples of where the OS seems to make poor choices around which graphics card to use, and showed some clear problems with it not switching back when that application was finished. The most unnerving observation of theirs was the use of discreet “power sucking” graphics for tiny desktop Twitter app, Tweetie.

Well friends, things are just about to get even worse.

When I read the Engadget article I though, hmmm lemme check out what the current active graphics card is, expecting the integrated on board chip to be the the graphics of choice. It wasn’t.

This lead me to confusion. I had literally just rebooted, and was browsing a couple of tabs with Chrome. I killed Chrome, but no change to the discrete graphics allocation. So I rebooted.

Cloud App

What I found when I rebooted my machine was really scary. I run this tiny status bar app called “CloudApp“, it’s a file sharing droplet. A brilliant little app, that only has a preference pane and a menu from the status bar. That’s gotta be integrated graphics right? No – OS X uses discrete graphics for this status bar application.

CloudApp's full interface

This isn’t the worst part I’m afraid. Because CloudApp is running all the time, discrete graphics are selected all the time. And because I run CloudApp from boot, I have discrete graphics selected pretty much 100% of the time.

OS X System Profiler after CloudApp is Launched

I cannot understand why Apple have made OS X choose discrete when this application

• A – Is hardly doing anything graphically intensive
• B – When it’s not doing anything, the discrete card is still selected.

Sure, it animates the cloud when I drag a file onto it (a two color silly animation), and also shows some progress indicators and delete icons within the menu itself, but that is it. I can hardly see where this app is using mucho Core Image or OpenGL to warrant the nVidia card and it’s full power!

So that’s where my 8 hours of battery life went, leaving the discrete graphics turned on, whilst my computer doesn’t need it. Come on Apple – you need to figure this one out!

[Update]

Interestingly, this is what @getcloudapp had to say on the matter:

CloudApp Twitter Response