New MacBook Pro: extend your battery life
Tags: Mac
Maybe you've got a new MacBook Pro (mid 2010) and heard about the new feature of switching the GPU on the fly when needed. This new feature should save a lot of power from your battery. I've got a new MacBook Pro and was wondering, why the battery life is not as good as promised.
When I installed gfxCardStatus, it showed me that my MacBook used the NVIDIA GPU all the time. But I didn't know why. The only applications running where Safari, Lotus Notes, Skype and TweetDeck. The most recent version of gfxCardStatus has a real helpful new feature. The "Dependent process list" shows which process forces the use of the NVIDIA GPU. In my case it was Skype. And I was not aware why Skype would need that much grafic power. I looked into the Preferences and deactivated the Skype video functionality, which I'm using very rarely. After a restart of Skype gfxCardStatus reported, that my MacBook now uses the Intel GPU. I'm really looking forward how long my battery will last now.
Maybe you've got a new MacBook Pro (mid 2010) and heard about the new feature of switching the GPU on the fly when needed. This new feature should save a lot of power from your battery. I've got a new MacBook Pro and was wondering, why the battery life is not as good as promised.
When I installed gfxCardStatus, it showed me that my MacBook used the NVIDIA GPU all the time. But I didn't know why. The only applications running where Safari, Lotus Notes, Skype and TweetDeck. The most recent version of gfxCardStatus has a real helpful new feature. The "Dependent process list" shows which process forces the use of the NVIDIA GPU. In my case it was Skype. And I was not aware why Skype would need that much grafic power. I looked into the Preferences and deactivated the Skype video functionality, which I'm using very rarely. After a restart of Skype gfxCardStatus reported, that my MacBook now uses the Intel GPU. I'm really looking forward how long my battery will last now.
