Firefox4 RC1

derfderfley · 10 Mar 2011 at 19:10

Well I downloaded and installed the FF4 RC1, and the damn thing keeps switching over to discrete gfx and then will not switch back without a restarting Firefox on my Macbook Pro.
No amount of tweaking of settings either in the preferences or about:config seems to stop this

A complete show stopper for me as the power drain for web browsing is just unacceptable.

Ah well back to FF3 for now...

shine · 10 Mar 2011 at 23:38

Same problem with Chrome. The only browser that uses the onboard is Safari.

Marky · 11 Mar 2011 at 00:53

How can you tell what graphics the Macbook is using?

Deku · 11 Mar 2011 at 08:13

Marky said:
How can you tell what graphics the Macbook is using?

google gfxcardstatus, you'll be suprised. Bit annoying really programs like utorrent even power up the discrete gfx.

Fireskull · 11 Mar 2011 at 09:24

Mine wont save my tabs when closing, getting annoying now..

shine · 11 Mar 2011 at 11:50

There's some good information here on why the discrete GPU is turned on by Chrome and doesn't switch off:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4205/the-macbook-pro-review-13-and-15-inch-2011-brings-sandy-bridge/9

Basically Deku is correct and we all need to get gfxcardstatus.

Deku · 11 Mar 2011 at 12:16

It is a real shame they don't fix this tbh, looks like it was going on with the 2010 mbp when nvidia was the gfx. It's a pretty annoying flaw in an otherwise fantastic experience so far, but I feel myself using programs I don't particularly want to use over my primary choices, uTorrent and Chrome in particular.

shine · 11 Mar 2011 at 13:51

You're right, when I was using the MBP on battery last night I switched to Safari from Chrome as the battery usage was too high. I assume its an OS flaw maybe it will be fixed in the future.

derfderfley · 11 Mar 2011 at 20:16

Not a problem with FF3 either. And granted using gfxCardStatus I can hard set it to the Intel, but that kind of defeats he object of dynamic switching.

Not to mention it causes havoc VMWare Fusion, not been able to switch the gfx across automatically.

Deku, yes it affects the MacbookPro 2010's with nvida gfx, exactly that problem here (running 10.6.6 all up to date).

Deku · 13 Mar 2011 at 12:01

I'm not sure about you lot but Chrome got an update this week and is no longer switching to Discrete immediately any more, not sure if its been fixed but so far it's working as intended for me at least.

edit: scratch that, discrete kicked in and wouldn't switch off unless I restarted.... hell. Back to safari I go

derfderfley · 13 Mar 2011 at 14:17

Anyone tried Opera to see if that has the same problem? I'm not a fan of Safari, and I'm currently sticking with FF3 but would like something a bit faster at rendering web pages.