rMBP 15": Battery Life Intergrated GPU vs Dedicated GPU Battery Life

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4 Jun 2011
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Hello all,

I have finally decided to buy a rMBP 15". Once thing I am concerned about is the battery life of integrated vs dedicated.

1. Does the dedicated GPU reduce the battery a lot (numbers if poss)?
2. Is the GPU always powered on, or does it only kick in when required?

Thanks
 
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8 Nov 2003
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Yorkshire
I had the Ivy Bridge rMBP with the iGPU and dGPU. The dGPU activates when required but when it does the battery life suffered a lot. You could switch off the dGPU with software but some apps would activate the dGPU anyway like Parallels.

I now have the Haswell rMBP and decided to get the iGPU only version for that reason. I don't game on mine so I just like the simplicity of it now.
 
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18 Oct 2002
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If you buy the dual GPU version of the rMPB, you should be able to control whether or not the dGPU is activated through a third party app called gfxCardStatus. I've found the nVidia GPU is beneficial for certain purposes, primarily gaming but also certain apps such as Adobe Premiere can take advantage also.

I have the dual GPU 15" Haswell rMPB and force OS X to use the integrated GPU for most daily tasks, unless I need the extra power from the discrete GPU. I've found that it never auto switches to the nVidia GPU unless I set gfxCardStatus to 'Dynamic Switching'.

I believe you can instruct Parallels to use the integrated GPU as default by setting the VM to 'Longer battery life' if you opt not to use gfxCardStatus.
 
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