Apple Brings Low Power Mode to Mac and iPad With macOS Monterey and iPadOS 15

[MacRumors]

The macOS 12 Monterey and iPadOS 15 updates that Apple introduced today bring a key iPhone feature over to the Mac and iPad -- Low Power Mode. On Apple's Monterey page that breaks down all of the new updates, there's a listing for Low Power Mode.

According to Apple, Low Power Mode on Mac reduces the system clock speed and the display brightness in order to extend your battery life even further. This means that if you're doing less intensive tasks like watching videos or browsing the web, you can eke even more out of your Mac's battery.

On the Mac, Low Power Mode is compatible with the MacBook (Early 2016 and later) and MacBook Pro (Early 2016 and later).

There is no mention of Low Power Mode on Apple's iPadOS 15 page, but there is a Low Power Mode feature available after installing the update.



Article Link: Apple Brings Low Power Mode to Mac and iPad With macOS Monterey and iPadOS 15

 

[countryside]

This will be useful when "on-the-go" (which, many of us MacBook users travel)! Why not iPadOS? I am so disappointed iPad seems to be afterthought (and watchOS).

 

[fwmireault]

That’s nice and welcomed, but why not the iPad too?

EDIT: Seems like iPadOS has it too, so you can ignore my comment

 

[Larsen2k4]

Hooray! 😍

 

[Marbles1]

Don’t laptops already drop clock speed when they are ‘resting’?

 

[kenni417]

if it can come to macos, then there’s no excuse for it not to come to ipados.

 

[Guccy]

Annoying and ironic that the oldest supported laptop with the worst battery life (2015 MBP) doesn’t get low power mode! Oh well, I’ll be upgrading soon anyways.

 

[Think|Different]

If this is even as half of the magic it is sometimes on iOS, I’ll be very happy!

 

[bchery21]

Nice!

 

[itsmeaustend]

Completely dropped the ball with this one Apple. The iPad has missed this feature for years, come on!!!

 

[Mad Mac Maniac]

That’s nice and welcomed, but why not the iPad too?

Right?! I was shocked to discover last week that the iPad didn't have it....

 

[macduke]

The iPad really needs this. But just imagine if you turned this on at 100% how long the new MacBook Air or Pro 13" could last.

 

[Populus]

Yes, now Apple laptops support low power mode, but oddly enough, the MacBook Air apparenty doesn’t support this feature, only the MacBook pro and MacBook.

At least that’s what it says on the webpage.

EDIT: Apparently, the MacBook Air supports it (at least the M1 MBA) just like @.player pointed out. Don’t be sad.

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Much needed feature!

 

[Apple_Robert]

Looks like a handy feature. I would have liked to have seen more focus on battery health and management, though (something like AlDente).

 

[Your Royal Highness]

Benefit oh having high performance and low performance cores on the same soc.

 

[jezbd1997]

Don’t laptops already drop clock speed when they are ‘resting’?

Everything does? But this will likely limit the clock speed as it does on iOS and stop extra background features

 

[hot-gril]

Well, this is the second time we've learned about an OS named after the place I'm currently physically in.

 

[hot-gril]

Don’t laptops already drop clock speed when they are ‘resting’?

Yes, but they increase it when they're not.

I don't know how intelligent the CPU scaling is, and low power mode would suggest it needs a hint from the user. Like if you launch just one app, does it step up and then stay there for a while? And power is dE/dt... Does scaling down your CPU when it's trying to run a task use less energy in aggregate? It has to finish the task somehow before it rests, so it can either do it at 100% frequency or at 10% for 10X the time.

Edit: Oh, I do know that CPUs can't really scale down to 0 (like how ICEs idle), so letting a task finish at the lowest power step would definitely use less energy than letting it run at 100% then idle the rest of the time.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

Didn't OS X used to have a dropdown that would let you choose between better battery life and better performance?

 

[contacos]

it feels more and more like iPadOS only became a thing so Apple devs do not have to bother integrating features into iPads and can focus on one device at a time. iPadOS 15 is basically iOS 14 except it is still missing features including the damn NEW weather app! Redic

 

[NorthCarolina]

This will be useful when "on-the-go" (which, many of us MacBook users travel)! Why not iPadOS? I am so disappointed iPad seems to be afterthought (and watchOS).

I swear, didn't LPM use to be a feature on watchOS? Actually now that I think on it... there's an ultra low power mode where it only displays the time; all other functionality is disabled. That was on watchOS 6 last time I had one.

 

[JPack]

Yes, now Apple laptops support low power mode, but oddly enough, the MacBook Air apparenty doesn’t support this feature, only the MacBook pro and MacBook.

At least that’s what it says on the webpage.

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Feels like feature rationing.

 

[Ternary]

Does an early 2016 MacBook pro exist? I thought the touchbar MacBook Pros from 2016 were late 2016.

 

[Shreducator]

Optimize battery charging would’ve been a nice addition as well. Since the M series chips get such great battery life I wouldn’t mind only charging to 80% to get a longer life out the battery.