Besides this working like Optimus when it should be much more intelligent, the fact that you couldn't turn off the dGPU to conserve power whilst on prolonged battery use was a head scratcher.Reply
It's simpler than that. Automatic switching is hard. Manual switching is easy. If you can offer the former, why on earth wouldn't you also allow the latter, for those that want it?Reply
Depends on the consumer. Note that Apple does let you TURN OFF the IGP, they just don't let you TURN OFF the GPU, the one thing that would give me great battery life when traveling.Reply
It would be great if you could set it to remember actions, sort off like ZoneAlarm's firewall back in the days when it was popular. Then after a while I imagine it would be pretty optimized. Although really, Optimus should be tweaked a lot so that we could avoid this hazzle and bring out the full potential of these units.Reply
Is there any program like this for Windows? I remember when you looked at battery life on the MacBook with Windows installed and it was horrible, though for the very obvious reason that both GPUs ran at all times. If you could turn one off I'd love to see the battery life revisited.Reply
That's a very good point. I'm not sure how Cody's code works, but obviously having a Windows version is the important next step. I hadn't thought about that. I know the next thing on my list of things to try is to disable the GT 330M while using Parallels, which causes a pretty considerable reduction in battery life as it stands.
I've been wondering if anyone was ever going to be able to enable windows GFX switching since they started including it in mac os. It doesn't even have to be automatic, just any control at all.
As someone who will soon be owning a mac, but most likely running windows, enabling windows GFX switching would be the last major negative to using windows on a macbook.Reply
At least in what testing I've done so far (which is pretty subjective), switching to the Intel HD (IGP) graphics over the dGPU makes a difference. You definitely notice the difference both in terms of heat and that battery life. I'm not quite ready to guess about how much though.
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solipsism - Saturday, May 08, 2010 - link
Besides this working like Optimus when it should be much more intelligent, the fact that you couldn't turn off the dGPU to conserve power whilst on prolonged battery use was a head scratcher. ReplyMySchizoBuddy - Saturday, May 08, 2010 - link
do you really believe that consumer what to turn on off on off on off on off on off. As oppose to having it done for them. Replyicrf - Saturday, May 08, 2010 - link
It's simpler than that. Automatic switching is hard. Manual switching is easy. If you can offer the former, why on earth wouldn't you also allow the latter, for those that want it? Replysolipsism - Saturday, May 08, 2010 - link
Depends on the consumer. Note that Apple does let you TURN OFF the IGP, they just don't let you TURN OFF the GPU, the one thing that would give me great battery life when traveling. Replykazuha vinland - Saturday, May 08, 2010 - link
It would be great if you could set it to remember actions, sort off like ZoneAlarm's firewall back in the days when it was popular. Then after a while I imagine it would be pretty optimized. Although really, Optimus should be tweaked a lot so that we could avoid this hazzle and bring out the full potential of these units. Replyeddyg17 - Saturday, May 08, 2010 - link
Baby steps first.Being able to switch between GPUs at all is huge on of itself. Later on, on future releases the author might add more functionality. Reply
Alexstarfire - Saturday, May 08, 2010 - link
Is there any program like this for Windows? I remember when you looked at battery life on the MacBook with Windows installed and it was horrible, though for the very obvious reason that both GPUs ran at all times. If you could turn one off I'd love to see the battery life revisited. ReplyBrian Klug - Saturday, May 08, 2010 - link
That's a very good point. I'm not sure how Cody's code works, but obviously having a Windows version is the important next step. I hadn't thought about that. I know the next thing on my list of things to try is to disable the GT 330M while using Parallels, which causes a pretty considerable reduction in battery life as it stands.-Brian Reply
Kevin the Tech - Saturday, May 08, 2010 - link
+1 to this idea.I've been wondering if anyone was ever going to be able to enable windows GFX switching since they started including it in mac os. It doesn't even have to be automatic, just any control at all.
As someone who will soon be owning a mac, but most likely running windows, enabling windows GFX switching would be the last major negative to using windows on a macbook. Reply
mianmian - Saturday, May 08, 2010 - link
I remember a previous article said that OS X does not switch GPU properly. So does Macbook pro get better battery life with the manual switch? ReplyBrian Klug - Sunday, May 09, 2010 - link
At least in what testing I've done so far (which is pretty subjective), switching to the Intel HD (IGP) graphics over the dGPU makes a difference. You definitely notice the difference both in terms of heat and that battery life. I'm not quite ready to guess about how much though.-Brian Reply
jlyall - Sunday, May 09, 2010 - link
Great you gave this a full article in its self :)This is a wonderful and powerful little app. Thank You Cody!
Still awaiting my MAc to install it on though =|:D Reply
Jamahl - Sunday, May 09, 2010 - link
Now AT can pretend intel laptops have good graphics and good battery life at the same time. ReplyRatman6161 - Monday, May 10, 2010 - link
If you are using Windows 7 and nVidia 200M, 300M or higher its already there. Reply