

For example, Google Chrome and Skype, among many others. There is a fork off the main build by steveschow available that seems to fix that problem for current versions of MacOS such as ElCapitan and Sierra. Trying to remove them in Single User just gives sandbox errors, so don’t do it in Single User Mode (the one that you boot with cmd + s ). There is an acknowledged bug in the current version of Cody Kreiger's Open-Source gfxcardstatus, and the developer has confessed he does not have time to fix it right now. But it's not perfect, and a lot of apps will inadvertently force the system to use the better graphics card. Remove all the AMD (or NVIDIA, depending on your card) kext files in the Terminal in Recovery Console. the OS will switch to the better graphics card, and when you're done, it will switch back to save power. When you connect an external display, load something up in Flash, start a game, etc.
#GFXCARDSTATUS REMOVE MAC OS X#
Mac OS X automatically switches between the available graphics cards. Most 15"/17" MacBook Pros sold since 2009, if I remember correctly, have 2 graphics cards - one discrete card that is very powerful, but somewhat power-hungry, and an integrated one that is much less powerful but draws less power. well, now that you mention it, I guess it's only been about 2 years :) How many people have multiple graphics cards?Haha. There is a utility called gfxCardStatus which can tell which graphics card is being used by the system atm. plugging in an external monitor forces the usage of the discrete card).
#GFXCARDSTATUS REMOVE DOWNLOAD#
GfxCardStatus is a free download from creator Cody Krieger's website. To help with the performance (making map movements more fluid) try turning off vsync. I simply didn't have the stamina to test that claim, but I did make one nine-hour run with OS X reporting a nine percent remaining battery capacity. Turning down screen brightness to just two "dots," a technique I often use to maximize battery life when using a MacBook Air during conferences, caused OS X to report potential battery life as high as 10 hours.
#GFXCARDSTATUS REMOVE PRO#
I was consistently able to get between 8 and 8.5 hours of continuous use from the Retina MacBook Pro when running integrated graphics only. gfxCardStatus is a menu bar application for OS X that allows MacBook Pro owners to view which GPU is in use at a glance, and switch between them on-demand.Īrs Technica has much more, including the fact that the Retina MacBook Pro can be pushed to nearly 10 hours of battery life with some minor battery saving techniques:

By more precisely controlling when each graphics card is enabled, users can improve system performance or battery life. GfxCardStatus allows users to control which graphics card is enabled - integrated or discrete - on MacBook Pro models with multiple graphics cards.
