Do not automatically switch to a higher level discrete GPU

Question

As written in this Technical Q & A :

By default, as soon as your application creates an OpenGL context (either calling OpenGL directly or an API that uses OpenGL, such as Core Animation, Core Image, etc.), the MacBook Pro automatically switches to a higher-end discrete graphics processor for performance and It doesn’t switch until the application shuts down.

Is there any way to prevent this? The discrete graphics processor on the newer MacBook Pro consumes power and shortens battery life.

Simply inserting the NSSupportsAutomaticGraphicsSwitching key into the Info.plist (proposed in Technical Q & A) seems to be insufficient.

Answer 1

At the end of 2008, the MacBook Pro, unfortunately, we can not do anything to avoid the transition to a discrete graphics processor.

In 2011, MacBook Pros instead of the automatic switch can prevent the insertion of the NSSupportsAutomaticGraphicsSwitching key with a boolean value true inside the Info.plist file. Please note that this only works with Mac OS X Lion.