Macbook Pro Intel HD Graphics

Hey!

I have recently bought a Macbook Pro 15 with i7 processor but has already encountered problems with the Intel HD Graphics. I have gfxCardStatus installed to see which card is currently running and always when the intel card is running the video performance is really bad. For example is 720p youtube video stuttering but 1080p run just fine due to the automatic switch to the NVIDIA card. Even downloaded 720p mkv files doesn't run smoothly on the intel graphics. I have all available updates from apple so i guess it's not a driver issue.

Is the Integrated Intel graphics really that bad it can not handle these tasks without problems or is mine in some way defective?

Thanks!

 

Intel integrated graphics are pitiful...just plain pitiful. i don't find that surprising at all.

 

Nah, this is normal. I leave intel graphics on when I'm working in Word/Excel, and browsing. They are terri-bad though, if you minimize some times I have lag with the genie morph into the dock.

 

yep, that's normal for YouTube. And actually, the problem isn't that the integrated graphics are that pitiful, but that there is no flash plugin optimized for it.

By contrast, I can play any 1080p video on my computer using the integrated graphics with no problem at all. smooth as butter. But go to YouTube and you have a damn crisis on your hands. The problem is flash plugin support, not the integrated graphics capability.

Lastly, I find as long as you don't full-screen the flash video, the intel graphics on youtube are fine. I'm not sure why that matters, but I'm sure it has something to do with the plug-in. There isn't any other meaningful explanation that explains the performance gap between my 20GB 1080p video on my computer and the 100MB 1080p video on YouTube.

probably because of mediocre driver support for the Intel graphics and OpenGL or whatever the desktop uses from Apple or Intel.

not sure, though. but I do feel like if it can handle the largest and richest of 1080p video files without any sort of hitch at all, it shouldn't stutter with the genie. then again, my 330M stutters with the genie. Just not as bad. So maybe the issue is the genie. lol

 

THIS, if you bootcamp with win 7 or use a PC with Windows the intel IGP handles 1080p just fine.

 

Yep. The Intel GMA's are NOT OpenCL friendly, and the Nvidia cards are. I believe Flash will offload onto an OpenCL compatible GPU if possible though.

If you're running a recent Mac, like a MBP or MBA, or a Mac with a Core 2 Duo or XEON... try the Adobe "Square" beta. It brings native 64-bit compatibility to the table for Safari... or you can grab the latest 32-bit beta that works with EVERY browser on OS X.

 

You're almost right. Bootcamping with Windows 7 runs well because it defaults to the Nvidia card. In Bootcamp you can't use the Intel HD graphics so of course it's gonna run better.

 

true bit of a branfart, should have just said a wintel machine as the aformentioned unit with intel igp/discreet is not apple hardware and shall not be discussed. but it does not diminish the fact that many low end machines with intel IGP can and do run 1080 without problems, C2D, ULV and iCore

 

The Intel IGP is definitely more than capable technically of accelerating 720p and 1080p h.264 video. The problem is that in OS X, the Intel IGP's video decoder is not utilized at all since Apple didn't develop API support for it. Decoding of video would be handled by the CPU when the Intel IGP is active, but a Core i7 should be fine handling 720p YouTube video even if the CPU usage isn't pretty. If you are full screening the video, then I believe the video frames are scaled by the IGP with OpenGL. Again, this seems like a pretty basic task for even an IGP since each frame is already decoded and should be like a texture that is scaled. But clearly something is falling through the cracks somewhere in between all these steps, maybe Adobe isn't concentrating on as much CPU video decode optimization now that they assume videos will default to the discrete GPU or certainly I don't expect Apple is optimizing the Intel IGP drivers since they assume the nVidia GPU should kick for aggressive tasks. Most likely it's something strange that Flash is doing to introduce overhead since all the individual parts should be fine.

It'd be interesting if you could grab the same youtube clip that stutters from your Safari cache and play it in Quicktime with Perian and see if it stutters. Although I'm not sure if it'll actually activate the nVidia GPU when you play the video natively like this so you won't actually be able to see the Intel IGP and CPU in action for comparison.

 

we could always force our machines to use the IGP and test it out.

 

Since the Flash player is just a container playing a .3GP or .mp4 video file, if Flash is indeed scaling with OpenGL then there is your problem. OpenGL or OpenCL... take your pick... are both horrible on Intel's GMA. OpenGL has always been a MAJOR issue with Intel and their GMA's. Nvidia on the other hand can slice through OpenGL content like a hot knife in butter.

 

Thank you all for your inputs!

I downloaded some new high resolution files and it turned out that the Intel graphics definitely are capable of playing 1080p mkv files in vlc media player. I don't know why it stuttered with the other videos but now at least one problem is solved.

Full screen YouTube video is though still a nightmare on the intel card but I guess I just have to live with it since ajreynol experience the same problem.