[Desktop] Switch back to integrated GPU on macOS

[Dani3lSun]

Description

When GPU hardware acceleration is enabled (which is the default) it occurs that some browser window is enabling dedicated GPU (if you have an MBP 15 for example). Which is fine, a lot of modern web pages need that extra power for fancy things. But if you close that window or tab, Brave doesn't switch back to the integrated GPU. So you stay at using the dedicated GPU, which burns your battery. Chrome or other Chromium based browsers do switch back after some time, Brave doesn't.
There is already an entry in the community forum which describes that:
https://community.brave.com/t/brave-wont-change-back-to-integrated-gpu-and-high-battery-usage/47295
And turning off hardware acceleration is more or less just a workaround then a real solution to this problem.
And opening the in-browser task manager to kill the GPU process isn't nice as well...

If you install a tool like gSwitch ( https://github.com/CodySchrank/gSwitch ) you can see which GPU is currently in use.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Visit e.g. https://web.basemark.com/ and run a benchmark
2. After some seconds dedicated GPU is activated
3. Close the browser window/tab
4. Dedicated GPU is still active

Actual result:

Dedicated GPU stays active

Expected result:

Brave should switch back to integrated GPU

Brave version (brave://version info)

Brave 0.65.118 Chromium: 75.0.3770.80 (Official Build) (64-bit)

[todbot]

Confirm this is an issue. My system is 2015 MacBook Pro w/ discrete GPU.

[Savjee]

Confirm this is still an issue on:
Version 0.66.100 Chromium: 75.0.3770.142 (Official Build) (64-bit)

Tested using MacBook Pro mid 2015 with this graphics config:

• AMD Radeon R9 M370X 2 GB
• Intel Iris Pro 1536 MB

[Aggiemaster]

I saw this issue as well:
0.67.125 Chromium: 76.0.3809.100 (Official Build) (64-bit)

Testing on 2019 Macbook Pro:
Radeon Pro Vega 20 4 GB
Intel UHD Graphics 630 1536 MB

[biddster]

Confirming on a MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013). Makes my legs pretty hot.

Version 0.68.132 Chromium: 76.0.3809.132 (Official Build) (64-bit)

[lokitoth]

On Surface Book 2 15" (Windows 10, Insider Preview), same issue is happening: Merely launching Brave (v1.0.0 Release Channel) spins up the dedicated GPU to the tune of 50-60%.

Contrast with Edge Dev and Firefox Dev Channel: Neither has this issue, and both properly use the integrated GPU.

[vincent-li-dev]

Confirming this is still an issue.
Macbook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, 2016)
Version 1.0.0 Chromium: 78.0.3904.97 (Official Build) (64-bit)

[leoscku]

Same issue happening
Macbook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, 2017)
Version 1.0.0 Chromium: 78.0.3904.97 (Official Build) (64-bit)

[zeebonk]

Confirmed for:
Macbook Pro (15-inch, 2018)
Version 1.0.1 Chromium: 78.0.3904.108 (Official Build) (64-bit)

[SAGV]

Confirmed for:
Macbook Pro (16-inch, 2019)
Version 1.0.1 Chromium: 78.0.3904.108 (Official Build) (64-bit)

And this is indeed pretty annoying!

[mbedded]

Not sure if I have the same issue but I have made the experience that my battery is dead after using VS Code + Brave for 2-3 hours. When I use VS Code + Safari the battery lasts 8-9 hours as expected. No compiling or any other "heavy CPU work" was done in these few hours. Battery was always 100% before

macOS Catalina 10.15
MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2014)
Version 1.0.1 Chromium: 78.0.3904.108 (Official Build) (64-Bit)

[euclaise]

Confirmed for:

• Macbook Pro (16 Inch, 2019; UHD360 x Radeon Pro 5300M)
• macOS 10.15.2
• Version 1.2.28 Chromium: 79.0.3945.79 (Official Build) beta (64-bit)

I was wondering what was eating my battery life...