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vetruvian

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 19, 2013
112
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Just curious if anyone has seen or noticed any indications of Apple doing this.
 
Wouldn't really make sense because you can just plug a laptop in and it can get as much power as it needs. However if there isn't a battery present, I remember older models being throttled, no clue about present day ones
 
The only throttling is when your battery is in “needs service” mode. At that point, the cpu will run at half speed, so as not to draw more power than the machine being plugged into the wall outlet, can supply.
 
Throttling when the power system can't provide enough juice is a basic safety feature of most laptops and has existed for quite some time on various platforms. It exists on Windows and I would be surprised if macOS didn't do something similar. If they wouldn't do it, a laptop with a deteriorated battery would simply crash every time you do something more demanding.
 
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There is no proof that this happens . Since the news broke, I doubt this will be carried over to mac :) though I can see the reputation damage this is causing for Apple now.
 
There is no proof that this happens . Since the news broke, I doubt this will be carried over to mac :) though I can see the reputation damage this is causing for Apple now.

I am quite sure that this has been default behaviour for years now. The iOS thing is probably a more recent port of a feature that has been standard on the PC side of things for quite some time. If you look around, you will find a lot of reports that laptops are slowed down when battery is old, defective or otherwise less functional. Both on Macs and PC laptops. And it makes perfect sence, since otherwise laptops with old batteries will simply not work. And everyone would be complaining how companies force them to buy new batteries and wouldn't even permit to get a data of a laptop. This entire story has been blown out of proportions by people who can't be bothered to turn on their brain.
 
I would hope that the OP was talking about permanent, non-disclosed throttling. Not the CPU simply idling at a lower clock speed, when its not really needed.

The battery issue I brought up earlier, is the only known instance.
 
When a Mac is running on just outlet power and there is no battery installed, it will be throttled. As per throttling on battery power. There is no need as Intel’s power management, and Apple’s added power saving features help mitigate those issues. Also, Macs have an auto-hibernate/sleep which mitigates issues should there be low charge in the battery.
 
When a Mac is running on just outlet power and there is no battery installed, it will be throttled. As per throttling on battery power. There is no need as Intel’s power management, and Apple’s added power saving features help mitigate those issues. Also, Macs have an auto-hibernate/sleep which mitigates issues should there be low charge in the battery.

The way I understand the question, its not about the charge, but about whether the battery can provide enough amperage to fulfil the laptop specs. E.g. if a battery is deteriorated to a state where if can only output say, 40W of power, out of 60W required for normal operation under load, does the system shut down or does the power management throttle down the hardware to match the power level.
 
The way I understand the question, its not about the charge, but about whether the battery can provide enough amperage to fulfil the laptop specs. E.g. if a battery is deteriorated to a state where if can only output say, 40W of power, out of 60W required for normal operation under load, does the system shut down or does the power management throttle down the hardware to match the power level.

Power output is always the same, until it reaches low charge.

What happens is that you can’t run as long anymore since you are draining mA from the battery that holds less mA
 
Ru
The only throttling is when your battery is in “needs service” mode. At that point, the cpu will run at half speed, so as not to draw more power than the machine being plugged into the wall outlet, can supply.
rubbish
 
I had both my 6S and 12" Macbook batteries replaced in December by Apple. Both were nearing 1000 cycles and needed service. While the before/after performance of the 6S is night and day, the Macbook seems to be about the same as before.
 
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Power output is always the same, until it reaches low charge.

No its not. At certain point, when it gets too old or damaged, the battery can't output as much power as it usually would. You are talking about batteries that are operated normally. The topic of this thread are batteries which no longer operate normally.
 
How so? I’ve had the “need service” battery thing happen to a MBP of mine. And CPUs can run at lower speeds, when not needed.

So can you please explain “rubbish”?
When the service indicator pops up the battery is at 80% at this point no throttling will occur!
 
Fair question that deserves to be ask, given how Apple handled the throttling on the iPhones, sneaking the change into iOS 10 update. I don't think its something that was implemented with OS X, as I'm sure many people would have already run a number of benchmarks on older laptops.

When a Mac is running on just outlet power and there is no battery installed, it will be throttled.
That point is moot because batteries are now glued into the case. You really cannot (at least easily) run a MBP without a battery (unless you have.a pre-2012 model).
 
When the service indicator pops up the battery is at 80% at this point no throttling will occur!
This is the MacBook Pro section, not the iPhone section. I’ve not heard squat about 80% related to laptops. The batteries can sustain the laptop, for a little while, even with high battery counts, until you get the “service required” message.
 
I have a 2014 MacBook Air that still works like it did on day one.
This machine is the kind of machine Apple became famous for. No slowing down whatsoever.
Not like the silly joke they're doing today with the MB and MBP.
And the battery charge on the Air still lasts for hours and hours. Full day easy. Just like when it was new.
Maybe Apple figured their machines were too reliable and didn't age fast enough to keep people buying,
so they came out with the new MB and MBP.....lol......awesome screen but the rest is junk.
If I was buying Apple I'd be shorting.
 
Think the throttling becomes an idea for apple if it might be more likely liable if battery fails under warranty time frame or such erratic behavior because of battery performance. More of problem with iPhones instead of laptop, I think.
 
I've literally destroyed the batteries of two Macbooks (13" Pro 2011, 13" Air 2013) down to 60-70% health. No throttling.
 
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