10.8.3 Forcing Discrete Graphics With Dropbox and others

to stay on subject: i have been coresponding the Growl team and this is their answer:

http://code.google.com/p/growl/issues/detail?id=578

long story short, they cannot fix it because of the changes Apple made with the 10.8.3 update and most likely their are not going to fix it

@Momai

At the moment the only possibility to use integrated graphics while using Dropbox & co. is to close all apps using Nvidia-card, then go to gfxCardStatus, click "only integrated" and restart Dropbox & co.

Now i'm using Dropbox with Intel graphics, but I really hope Apple will change this, because this procedure is pesky!

Maybe I'll give Apple-Support a call this week!😠

Is strange. I downgraded to Dropbox 1.6.18 as is mentioned here around one week ago:

http://www.jackenhack.com/battery-draining-applications-macbook-pro/#dropboxresp onse

I noticed that Dropbox has been updated to 2.0.0 again but not it doesn't force discrete graphics. Intel graphics remains, so I would suggest people to try to downgrade Dropbox and wait until is updated by itself to see if this "solution" works.

Dropbox will auto-update only if "include me on early releases" is checked in your account settings on the Dropbox web site.

Dropbox did release a new experimental update, yesterday, version 2.1.5. This new release DOES fix the discrete graphics problem (yay!). Note, the experimental updates are released, in parallel, to the stable releases. Dropbox recommends using them for testing and not production. I installed 2.1.5 on my system and it seems to be working just fine. Or, you can wait for the next stable release which will, surely, implement the fix.

Just filed another bug report.. let's see if things will get fixed. I went back to 10.8.2 so everything keeps working without problems. Maybe i'll bring my MBP to a service point to see if my logic board is crappy..

narciszait wrote:

Good thing growl does not trigger it. As for Skype it is pretty normal and logic to trigger the nvidia card as it uses the isight camera

It's not that simple. Both FaceTime and Messages use the iSight, yet only Messages switches to the discrete GPU when you videochat.

A little birdy told me that Dictation now runs on the integrated GPU as well.

I am happy they listened.

I had to take advantage of Apple nice treatment for Apple Care customers and make sure a senior advisor knows about this issue in 10.8.3. He also asked me to collect some logs and information so he can forward them to the engineering department. Let's hope the final 10.8.4 puts an end to this issue.

Keynote is a quartz-heavy software with 3D effects, motion, transparencies and such… it's perfectly fine if it triggers the discrete GPU, it would be strange if it didn't!

Skype: it would be nice if it did it only when you start a video call, but it might not be possible without some changes to the whole video/graphic requirements of the software. I don't see them (Microsoft) fixing it any time soon.

I am surprised by the attitude some of you guys have here. I bought a very expensive machine that was working perfectly fine before a crappy update came out. I expect things to get back to NORMAL. Not for myself to start giving excuses as to why some of the apps that NEVER triggered Discrete graphics started doing it now.

By me giving examples, it doesn't mean those examples are the only apps that trigger the discrete graphics. Some apps are ridiculously small and have no graphics/animations in them and still stupidly trigger discrete graphics, example: TrimEnabler.

Apple better fix this ****. I want my battery life back.

I totally agree with you on the little utilities: they shouldn't trigger the GPU, and they have to fix it.

At the same time I believe Keynote is one of those softwares that has all the rights to use the NVIDIA card. I think you just chose a bad example, that's all.

At the same time I want to remind everyone to write feedback to Apple (they don't read these forums) AND to the developers of the softwares: most of the time they have no idea their app triggers the GPU since they don't have mid-2010 mbp. They might not be able to fix it, but at least let them know there's a problem.

aburger wrote:

Why do you think our graphics problem has something to do with this issue?

My screen does not behave strange, its not getting Black or so...

I don't think everyone here has that problem. You must decide that based on the article and your Mac's performance. If you do have that problem, there is only a short time left to get it repaired for free.

The graphics switching issue and the logic board issue are two different things. They just, both, happen to impact 2010 hardware. The graphics switching issue is, undoubtedly, a software issue (caused by the 10.8.3 update). I feel quite confident that my logic board is fine as I have experienced none of the other issues.

Why are you spoiling this thread with your confusing information? The issue you are talking about has absolutely nothing to do with the issue in this thread. Everyone with the "Black screen" issue got their logicboard fixed. This has nothing to do with it.

Nadeem97 wrote:

Everyone with the "Black screen" issue got their logicboard fixed. This has nothing to do with it.

I've contacted several people that still have the logic board problem in the last few weeks. Many people do not know about it, which is why I brought it up.

If you are unable to read a post and filter it out based on your experiences, I'm sorry you are so dense.

Nadeem97 wrote:

It's pointless to bring up the black screen issue when -if you were able to read a post and filter it out in the first place- it's very obvious this issue is not related to it at all.

I didn't ever say it was related. There is a commonality between the GPU switching and a Mid 2010 MacBook Pro.

When I saw the thread pop up, and having just informed several people of the problem, and given that time is running out to get the problem fixed for free, I added the post to inform anybody that had one to get it checked.