Applications that trigger discrete graphics [2010 MBP]

Hi all!

I just got my new MacBook Pro 15" (with auto graphics switching) and was a bit surprised that the discrete graphics card was always on... so I started investigating what apps might be triggering that! As far as I could tell, I wasn't running anything graphics intensive... so it was a surprise to me what I found out

EDIT:
There are a lot more apps causing this than the ones I listed initially... a more complete and up-to-date list can be found at this thread on MacRumors forums.
It's possible to know what graphics card you're currently using by installing GPUInfoMenu or gfxCardStatus, the latter also allows to force switching from discrete to integrated, or vice-versa.

 

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time for someone to switch to Transmission.

 

Try this little (beta) app out to manually switch gpu's
gfxCardStatus: menu bar gpu status monitor for os x / cody krieger - mobile, desktop & web developer
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glad that didn't take long to implement.

now if we can just get some people to develop some 330M overclocking tools for the OSX side of things, we'll be all set.

 

a few more for your list...


* 1Password
* Ableton Live 8
* Acrobat Pro
* Adobe Media Encoder
* Aperture 3
* Camtwist
* Chess
* Choosy
* Cinch - Maybe? Some people say yes, some say no
* CloudApp
* Coverscout 3
* Delicious Library 2
* Djay 3.0
* Drive Genius 3 (disable DrivePulse to stop it from using discrete 24/7)
* Espresso - sometimes...not sure what is triggering it
* Evernote
* ForeverSave
* ForeverSkin
* Gmail
* Google Chrome - depends on web content
* Hyperspaces
* iChat - video
* iDVD
* iPhone Simulator
* iPhoto
* iSale 5
* iTunes Visualizers - Specifically Lathe and Stix, not the others
* iWeb
* Keynote
* Lightroom 1.4 (but only when you start a slideshow. Doesn't switch back though, until you close the program)
* LittleSnapper (LittleSnapper's menu item does not trigger the GPU)
* NetNewsWire
* Matlab
* Mathematica
* MercuryMover
* Microsoft Office 2011 Office Communicator
* MSN Messenger
* Nambu Twitter Client
* Papers
* PathFinder
* Photoshop CS4
* Plex
* Pod to Mac
* Powerpoint
* Rapidweaver
* RipIt
* Screenflow
* Screen Sharing - either direction
* Skim - after a specific search use case
* Skitch
* Skype
* Socialite
* The Hit List
* Times
* Toast Titanium 10
* Transmit 4
* Tweetie
* VLC
* VMWare Fusion
* uTorrent
* X11-based Applications
* Xee
* XCode - I am finding that after opening Developer Documentation, XCode uses Nvidia until it is relaunched.
* Yahoo Messenger
* Zooom 2


taken from: List of programs that use discrete graphics in i5/i7 MacBook Pros - Mac Forums

 

Thanks for the additional info on using gfxCardStatus to switch graphics cards!
Regarding the MacRumors thread, I actually found it a bit after posting this... but since there were no replies to this thread for some time, I thought nobody else was interested
Updating the 1st post to point to the list that is maintained and more complete...

 

Underpartment, awesome link. I was wondering when someone will implement something like that Take back the decision power from Apple

ajreynol, I was just glancing at the list. To my surprise, Gmail is on the list? It is just a web site with javascripts... how can it use discrete graphics? That sucks...

 

I know. I don't own a MBP, but it surprises me too. hopefully Apple will create some sort of white list for these apps or give the user the ability to create a white list.

 

Heh, Have they finally fixed the crashing bug that happened after Snow Leopard update? I gave up after months of it not being fixed.