what does the official client use by default for mining (cpu or gpu) ?

[Alaukik]

can someone clarify this for me ?

[almbfsek]

AFAIK there are no more mining features on the official client.

[Ricochet]

AFAIK there are no more mining features on the official client.

Correct.  The client originally did CPU mining, which has become so worthless that it's misleading to include it in the client.  It discourages people from using Bitcoin entirely.

[Sitarow]

To bad it would be easy for others to start up. Yet projects like GUIMiner work great.

[Rob P.]

To bad it would be easy for others to start up. Yet projects like GUIMiner work great.

Start up, yes.  Actually earn anything?  No.  The default client used CPU, couldn't be pointed at a pool, so you were basically trying to find a shard of glass in the ocean.  Was it possible you'd find a block and earn 50BTC?  Sure.  Was it probable?  No.

That's why they took it out of the latest builds of the client.  There's really no point.  You'd have better odds laying down $1 on the State Lottery.

[Skeenz]

Also, new users will get frustrated when no coins arrive in their wallet after X days of mining (through the client).