Before MacBook Pros were announced it was rumored that Apple will use NVIDIA’s new Optimus technology for automatic switching between Intel’s integrated graphics and NVIDIA discrete graphics chip. However, recent findings by AppleInsider indicate that even though the concept used by Apple is similar to NVIDIA Optimus, the automatic graphics switching solution has been completely developed by Apple. NVIDIA’s spokesperson also confirmed that the company had no input on Apple’s solution.

Apple offers the automatic switching solution in the new 15-inch and 17-inch MacBook Pro models. The new solution automatically switches between integrated graphics and dedicated graphics chip based on the application in use. For example, when the user is using application like Word the system will use integrated graphics, but the system will automatically switch to dedicated GeForce 330M GPU for playing games, video or photos.

Apple’s automatic graphics switching solutions sounds very similar to NVIDIA Optimus technology, but the working of the two technologies is quite different. Optimus technology uses a list that tells the system which applications need a discrete GPU and which apps work fine with integrated GPU. NVIDIA maintains a master list, which the system could download from the cloud. Also, Optimus technology uses the integrated graphics chips as the relay point even when using discrete GPU. When using discrete GPU, Optimus technology writes frames directly to the frame buffer used by the integrated graphics, which resides in RAM. This means that for high performance graphics applications, Optimus technology runs both the GPUs even though integrated GPU is doing no work.

Apple’s approach differs from Optimus in two key ways, according to Ars Technica. First the switching between graphics cards is completely handled by the operating system (users do have an option of deactivating the switching in System Preference) and doesn’t require a list of applications to work. The OS triggers the discrete graphics card for applications using advanced graphics frameworks such as OpenGL, Core Graphics or Quartz Composer. Other applications like Mail, Word and Excel use integrated Intel HD graphics. Second, Apple’s automatic switching solution only uses one GPU at a time, when using discrete GPU it powers down the integrated GPU.

The benefits of Apple’s approach are increased efficiency and better battery life. For example, in NVIDIA Optimus case if a video game that is graphics heavy is not on the list, it will run on integrated graphics decreasing the performance of the game until user manually switches to discrete GPU. Also when discrete GPU is running the NVIDIA based system’s power requirement will be higher than Apple’s, as two GPUs will be working for one and same task. The tests done by Engadget on the new MacBook Pro show that Apple has an edge over competition when it comes to combination of performance plus battery life.