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Calls for Apple to Bring iPhone-Style Low Power Mode to MacBooks

Chip NoVaMac said:
Wonder if any one here is using the app and could post some Geekbench tests...
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Geekbench test are in the article:

Low Power Mode for Mac laptops: making the case again – Marco.org

marco.org marco.org
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As I said above. This is a big hit in single-threaded performance. Maintaining turbo, but disabling 2-4 cores may be a better option to keep max power under control.
 
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I don't even sit in front of a computer unless it's to do work that demands more then what I can do from my phone or iPad. So, low power mode makes very little sense in my mind. Most MacBooks are already pretty low power. I could see it useful on the Pro's but.. other then that what's really that high powered about a MacBook with a mobile chip?
 
Steve121178 said:
I use mine via the AC Adapter 99% of the time.
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That's another feature I wish MacOS had, that I've already sent feed back about a few times. A way to set a "battery charge ceiling" so a Macbook that's plugged in all the time will keep the battery around 80%. This will greatly reduce battery aging.
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JosephAW said:
I miss the days of having the low and high setting in energy saver that was for the RISC processors. Maybe a single core mode for the newer x86 chipset?

Be nice to see an option in iOS where when it's on battery it's in lower power mode and when plugged in higher. I just wish they get rid of the screen dimming when warm or at least have a toggle switch.
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A single core mode would make things worse as modern operating systems are heavily multithreaded and the context-switch overhead would make tasks take much longer, burning more battery even with that one core.

Better to just slow down the processor and power down cores not executing code at the moment.
 
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fromsixtozero said:
Low power mode doesn´t contain the word pro. Not good marketing. I suggest:

Pro saver mode
Pro mode
Pro max mode

They should also release macOS X Catalina Pro, with Pro desktop and Pro Finder (similar to total commander but even more Pro).
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Fine, but MacOS has Berkeley UX on board with all the tools to automatically implement LO/Hi power mode
We need just a slider to set its aggressiveness (according to a targeted batt life)
How hard can it be (unless Apple’s has its UX guy moved to the iPhone dept, again)
 
I've been using Turbo Boost Switcher on my Mac Mini for fan noise reasons. Looking back, I probably should have just bought the i3 model that doesn't have turbo boost to begin with. I'd lose 2 cores, but I doubt they are being used that often. I would definitely prefer a built in option for this. One that reliably survives reboots.
 
Wishful thinking. iPads, especially the Pros, STILL don’t have the Low Power Mode option, let alone getting it on Macs.
 
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With laptop gaming getting more and more popular having a
Laptop that can push the i9 and the gpu to the max having max performance is what gamers want.
 
Specs aren’t always everything, there are a lot of users who prefer better battery life over power...especially when the power is already decent
 
Saturnine said:
No. I don’t want Pro Mode or Low Power mode.

The reason I’ve been a Mac user rather than a Windows user for the past 20 years was because a Mac historically “just worked.” They were computers to do work on.

I want my computer to intelligently adapt itself to what I’m doing. I want it to manage its own updates. I just don’t want it to bother me and I don’t want to have to spend any time configuring or maintaining it.
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Then don't use it. Also there are plenty of users for your experience is not at all similar. Even if something intelligent adapts the way it works it still may not prioritise things the way the user wants.
 
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Did you read the article? If you did you wouldn't mention dimming the screen at all

Steve121178 said:
I use mine via the AC Adapter 99% of the time. I'd like more cores & power on my 13" MacBook Pro not less. But as long as it lasts 5-10+ hours on battery then that should suit most people.

However, a low power mode already exists, just dim the screen!

According to iStat on my machine, OneDrive is highly inefficient and causes frequent CPU throttling. Maybe software companies getting their sh*t together would help battery life?
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ruslan120 said:
Components automatically scale. Disabling Turbo is just silly. Low power mode is silly (unless it’s actually just a script that kills low priority applications.

Energy = Power * Time

If your processor temporarily uses more power over less time then total energy is lower. It’s called “race to the finish” and it’s actually an interesting read.

For those that disable Turboboost, you’re lowering the power but increasing the time it takes to complete tasks, potentially increasing Energy use. To illustrate component scaling, download Intel Power Gadget and observe how during non-use the processor scales all the way down.

tl;dr Can Apple make a low power mode, yes. Should it? No. Should it be better at power management under the hood? Yes.
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There is a problem with this though. As processor speed increases. Power consumption increases exponentially. While the performance increase is roughly linear. It depends where you are at in the performance per watt curve. Once you hit a point where power consumption increases are greater than performance increases. You start getting diminishing returns. Ideally, you'd not want to get rid of Turbo Boost entirely. Rather a user enabled Turbo Boost cap. Where the increased percentage of power consumption is not greater than the increased percentage in performance.

As there are differences in each chip. This cap would vary. This cap would need to be either a less accurate baseline cap or one which the software learns for each machine. Until it can determine an optimal setting automatically.

Personally, I'd like power profiles as in Windows. Where users have basic dummy settings for those who don't want to bother and advanced settings for more granular controls. Including manually setting the max processor state on and off battery along with GPU settings. Even better, being able to set the VCore, multiplier, turbo boost multipliers and deactivate cores. As with motherboard utilities on DIY computers. That'll never happen but one can always dream.
 
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Such a close minded statement. Sure, you don't want/need it but others might. Having it as it is on default and give user an option in the menu is win win for everyone.
Overall, another thing to consider "Mr. ME ME ME" - by reducing heat etc. you are also most likely extending the life span of your computer and therefore reducing the chances of something breaking.
I'm sometimes amazed how my 2017 MBP goes crazy just for simple tasks so this would be welcomed option.


Saturnine said:
No. I don’t want Pro Mode or Low Power mode.

The reason I’ve been a Mac user rather than a Windows user for the past 20 years was because a Mac historically “just worked.” They were computers to do work on.

I want my computer to intelligently adapt itself to what I’m doing. I want it to manage its own updates. I just don’t want it to bother me and I don’t want to have to spend any time configuring or maintaining it.
Click to expand...
 
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velocityg4 said:
There is a problem with this though. As processor speed increases. Power consumption increases exponentially. While the performance increase is roughly linear. It depends where you are at in the performance per watt curve. Once you hit a point where power consumption increases are greater than performance increases. You start getting diminishing returns. Ideally, you'd not want to get rid of Turbo Boost entirely. Rather a user enabled Turbo Boost cap. Where the increased percentage of power consumption is not greater than the increased percentage in performance.

As there are differences in each chip. This cap would vary. This cap would need to be either a less accurate baseline cap or one which the software learns for each machine. Until it can determine an optimal setting automatically.

Personally, I'd like power profiles as in Windows. Where users have basic dummy settings for those who don't want to bother and advanced settings for more granular controls. Including manually setting the max processor state on and off battery along with GPU settings. Even better, being able to set the VCore, multiplier, turbo boost multipliers and deactivate cores. As with motherboard utilities on DIY computers. That'll never happen but one can always dream.
Click to expand...

I appreciate the explanation. Mind changed. Low power mode would be useful!
 
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Saturnine said:
No. I don’t want Pro Mode or Low Power mode.

The reason I’ve been a Mac user rather than a Windows user for the past 20 years was because a Mac historically “just worked.” They were computers to do work on.

I want my computer to intelligently adapt itself to what I’m doing. I want it to manage its own updates. I just don’t want it to bother me and I don’t want to have to spend any time configuring or maintaining it.
Click to expand...

That power slider on Windows is horrible - it never stays put.
 
Interesting idea. I have found that graphics switching hasn't improved battery life.

I have the mid 2019 model - battery life is 'ok', but definitely not as advertised, and I'm pretty good about riding the low brightness and minimizing app use. It's not always a factor, until I have to take the train for work then it sucks!
 
So this Marco moron buys a pro machine only to cripple the pro performance that this pro machine was purposely designed around.
 
this would be an awesome option to have. when you're in airports and so on it would be nice to use something like this instead of digging out the power source and finding an outlet.
 
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