BatteryGate 2: MacBooks get slowed down by Apple when battery ages?

[Intenditore]

NOTE: I posted this thread on the Apple forum. A minute later it has been wiped out. Coincidence? I don’t think so…

I noticed this on two of my MacBook pros, 2014 2.6 and 2015 2.8. Both must show certain Cinebench scores - 2.6 about ~640, 2.8 ~680.

None of them are even close. 2.6 shows ~550, 2.8 - 540. They are flawless, the paste is new, I even tried liquid metal, and no, they're too slow in any way, anyhow.

But than I installed windows on the first one. And... 660 CB points! Even more than I could expect! And it's running fine, simply without MacOS. That lead my to a thought - MacOS limits the performance somehow. Why, and what could it be? And here is my guess.

Old batteries. 250+ cycles on one, 600+ on the other. Remember the scandal about iPhones secret slowdowns because of old batteries?

I bet it's somewhere close. I now order a new battery and will check it throughly later. But I feel my guess is close to truth. And no matter why - my perfectly functional MacBooks are ~20% SLOWER THAN THEY SHOULD AND CAN (with Windows) BE. I feel it like a fraud, cause the machine TWICE THE PRICE runs just as a base model and even worse. I feel something disgusting here from Apple. Again.

Let's check our machines and compare the scores to what it should be and than look at the cycle count. I think you should discover the same what I did



p.s. My thread didn’t survive a minute

 

[maflynn]

Coincidence? I don’t think so…

Your post violated the apple support forum rules - simple as that nothing underhanded

 

[Intenditore]

Well, it doesn't seem like a pool or a petition which they accused me of ?

 

[robvas]

I would guess they don't reduce the speed on Macs to reduce battery draw - since if you have a weak battery, benchmarking at 100% CPU will cause your mac to shut off at less than < 20/30% in some cases

 

[Intenditore]

You know, it's not that simple. I could understand such downshift if I'm on the battery, but I benchmarked plugged to the wall. Also, if the battery dies or you simply unplug it you will get simply bottommost performance possible, not matter the battery isn't involved at all

 

[tothemoonsands]

You know, it's not that simple. I could understand such downshift if I'm on the battery, but I benchmarked plugged to the wall. Also, if the battery dies or you simply unplug it you will get simply bottommost performance possible, not matter the battery isn't involved at all

Wow. Super interesting! I would have assumed that it was throttled to preserve battery life, but you are saying this is completely independent of the battery, so that simply cannot be the justification. Yikes. This is a storyline that could absolutely be picked up by Gizmodo (etc.) in the days to come. Just watch!

One potential explanation is that Apple is throttling under the guise of "preserving battery life", but coded it such that it is based on battery charge cycles. Therefore, it is affecting the machine whether it is plugged in or not, which obviously has the effect of creating a sub-optimal user experience and pushes the user to purchase a new machine. This is PURE SPECULATION of course, but it makes sense. If Apple was intending to preserve battery life, you'd think they would only enable this when the machine is running on battery.

 

[Intenditore]

I do hope it will get some light shed on it, but my new battery wouldn't make it's way to me quick enough, so I'll be glad if community will share some experience on the topic or even proofs or rebuttals

 

[avz]

You know, it's not that simple. I could understand such downshift if I'm on the battery, but I benchmarked plugged to the wall. Also, if the battery dies or you simply unplug it you will get simply bottommost performance possible, not matter the battery isn't involved at all

It is very simple. Your power supply is unable(not designed) to supply a high current at a short notice which is required when CPU is working hard. But the good battery can do it. This is why a good quality battery is just as important as good quality logic board for the function of your machine. Battery is VERY important component and not just to make your laptop portable.

 

[tothemoonsands]

It is very simple. Your power supply is unable(not designed) to supply a high current at a short notice which is required when CPU is working hard. But the good battery can do it. This is why a good quality battery is just as important as good quality logic board for the function of your machine. Battery is VERY important component and not just to make your laptop portable.

This doesn't explain the performance difference between MacOS and Windows though. If it was the aging battery that was diminishing the CPU, this would affect both Windows and MacOS since the issue is at a hardware level. But this appears to be at the software level.

 

[avz]

This doesn't explain the performance difference between MacOS and Windows though. If it was the aging battery that was diminishing the CPU, this would affect both Windows and MacOS since the issue is at a hardware level. But this appears to be at the software level.

Are you saying that it is a big revelation to you that not all OS's are the same? I am heard that Windows is better for gaming. Even not all macOS are the same. I am still using Mavericks and Mojave. Don't forget that benchmarks are purely synthetic and don't tell the full story.

 

[Intenditore]

It is very simple. Your power supply is unable(not designed) to supply a high current at a short notice which is required when CPU is working hard

So you mean the machine can't handle peak performance and it DISCHARGES while you work? Nope, that's not the case for sure. And you can get a proof with Windows again, the system will work fine with no throttle at full speed if there's no battery.
I know very few machines (and they are a ludicrous gaming monsters with 2 power supplies and desktop hardware) which discharge while they are stressed.
It may not be this way here.

 

[tothemoonsands]

Are you saying that it is a big revelation to you that not all OS's are the same? I am heard that Windows is better for gaming. Even not all macOS are the same. I am still using Mavericks and Mojave. Don't forget that benchmarks are purely synthetic and don't tell the full story.

That’s a fair point, but one would not expect a large performance difference given identical hardware. Is Windows 10 optimized THAT much better that it can run faster? I think not. So then, what explains this difference?

As far as I know, Windows is better for gaming because of its hardware advantages. The fact you can custom build a machine and then simply add Windows OS to it. Think: unlimited choices on CPU, GPU, RAM, cooling, etc. whereas with Mac you are limited to the build-to-order options, with the exception of the Mac Pro.
That seems to be why Windows is better for gaming, not to mention the fact that most games are not made to run on Mac.

 

[Eason85]

So you mean the machine can't handle peak performance and it DISCHARGES while you work? Nope, that's not the case for sure. And you can get a proof with Windows again, the system will work fine with no throttle at full speed if there's no battery.
I know very few machines (and they are a ludicrous gaming monsters with 2 power supplies and desktop hardware) which discharge while they are stressed.
It may not be this way here.

Any way to change the battery between machines? That's the way to be sure.

 

[ascender]

So of all the different variables at play are, were you expecting the benchmark scores to be identical on different operating systems? Running on 5+ year old hardware?

I'm very confused.

And can we please stop with the "gates"...

 

[leman]

I would blame some software running in the background for your weak benchmark results. I have never seen any evidence for reduced performance with older batteries, unless of course the battery is completely broken.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Well, it doesn't seem like a pool or a petition which they accused me of ?

Petition: appeal, entreaty. which your post is. Your post isn’t a technical question that can be answered by the community.

 

[souko]

Windows has more aggressive fan setup than macOS... So difference can be in that... (After 5 tries there will not be difference). I use MacBook PRO 13" 2015 and have no difference in Cinebench results...
Battery has 400 cycles

 

[Sanpete]

Try the same benchmarks on a machine with a newer battery before rushing to the peculiar conclusion that it's the battery rather than the OS.

 

[Intenditore]

Why do this assumption is taken so suspiciously? Nobody knew why do their iPhones struggle to maintain their initial speed but than the intentional slowdown was discovered. If such thing had a place once, why couldn't it be a second time? It seems very logical
Remember - I use the SAME machine on the SAME OS as in the reviews I base my estimations on. And results are DIFFERENT. And the only thing different in the machine is AGED BATTERY. Windows scores simply prove it's not a hardware fault but some kind of MacOS software forgery/limitation/hidden feature.
I wonder why nobody else asked the same when the first hype on the iPhones appeared.
My battery will ship from China, and it's a hard time for foreign trade you know, so I can't check it soon and wanted to ask other is they stubled upon the same

Am I illogical anyhow?

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Am I illogical anyhow?

When you say “the paste is new” does that mean you’ve disassembled and reassembled these systems? I think what you have is an interesting coincidence, but there‘s really not enough definitive information to be alarmed by yet. Your new battery will provide another data point for analysis, but there’s a LOT of other things that could cause what you’re seeing before I’d settle on forgery/limitation/hidden feature.

In the earlier iOS situation, they didn’t jump directly to “APPLE IS THROTTLING IPHONES!” They had a significant amount of data that shows that the ONLY thing left is that Apple was throttling phones. SO, continue your analysis work, when people reject your conclusions, take their words to heart and figure out how to test their assumptions, and keep going!

 

[Intenditore]

When you say “the paste is new” does that mean you’ve disassembled and reassembled these systems?

Exactly. I even tried liquid metal after two different pastes.

take their words to heart and figure out how to test their assumptions, and keep going

Yes, I will. I just wanted to gather more info from other users

 

[avz]

So you mean the machine can't handle peak performance and it DISCHARGES while you work?

Yes, this is exactly what I am saying. Your MacBook power supply goes under a very profound name "charger" for a reason. You can't even remotely compare it to the desktop power supply.
The status of my battery in my MacBookPro7,1 alternates between Normal and Service Battery depending on the use cases WHILE BEING PLUGGED IN.

Like others already said it is very hard to compare benchmarks as you can't be sure what processes are running in the background. Officially unsupported Mojave returned a higher benchmark score than officially supported El Capitan on my late-2008 MacBook. Another headline for you: Why unsupported macOS run better than supported?

 

[souko]

I use MacBook Pro 13" 2015, 2.7GHz, 391 cycles (original 5 years old battery)

I ran Cinebench R20 5 times:
Windows
442; 692; 506; 688; 462 (I do not understand these drops... It was after restart)

MacOS 10.15.3
696; 697; 710; 726; 729 on battery (the only test on battery)

 

[Mentok]

I have a min 2014 13” MacBook Pro and the battery is completely dead, as in it only works when plugged in. The performance is terrible, everything is slow. I’m running Ubuntu on it now and that is fine. So yea it does seem that macOS throttles when the battery is low/bad no despite being plugged.

 

[avz]

I have a min 2014 13” MacBook Pro and the battery is completely dead, as in it only works when plugged in. The performance is terrible, everything is slow. I’m running Ubuntu on it now and that is fine. So yea it does seem that macOS throttles when the battery is low/bad no despite being plugged.

No, you are looking at it from the wrong angle.

The simple and ultimate truth is: your MacBook was never meant to be an iMac, so don't expect it to act like one. MacBook battery charger is not a power supply in a true sense of the word.

MacBook with a bad battery/without battery equals trash(until you get a good quality battery).

Mystery is solved.