Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
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.

It seems to me you are implicitly assuming that power and computation speed have a perfectly linear relationship. I don't see how that is possible. Even if the processor clock rate and power consumption have a linear relationship (and I do not know if that is true), there are other factors involved in computation, such as memory and disk access. Since those don't get faster with the turbo clocking, and since they tend to be bottlenecks relative to the processor in any case, I don't think increasing the clock rate is going to give you a linear increase in overall performance. It will just increase the percent of the average compute cycle that you end up waiting for data that isn't in cache. I may have this a little bit wrong, since my knowledge of computer architecture is extremely dated ("OK, Boomer!" ;)); but the point is, due to nonlinearities in the relationships between power and compute rate, and possibly even CPU clock rate, that formula above is way too simplistic to support your main point.
 
Isn't that the same with iOS? If you want your phone to run longer, disable background refresh, reduce polling, etc? Letting Apple create a low power mode makes it easier for people do do all these. Same thing here. I much prefer a low power mode, where the CPU runs at a lower clock speed, *EVEN* if I have gadzillion tabs open.
Wasn't it last year at WWDC that Federighi presented the [then] next version of Safari where any 'stuff'* running in a tab would be paused when that tab wasn't the active one anymore?

* I think the example was a video, don't know whether that also applies to any kind of Javascript or similar.
[automerge]1579115386[/automerge]
I see almost everyone has missed that the article was NOT about battery life. It was about usability factors, like temperature and noise. Battery life only got a passing mention. If disabling Turbo Boost results in a much more comfortable computing experience, then the option should be provided in the OS.
One might call it then 'cool mode' or 'quiet mode'.
 
MacBook Pros have already had a low power mode since forever. Have you guys really never noticed that they get extremely slow once the battery is below 10% or so?
 
I have a feeling that we will get low power mode on MacOS but only for machines with ARM.

Presumably, Apple will be able to take elements of iOS Low power mode over to iOS.

I’m also assuming that ARM macs will only be able to install apps from the App Store - which will need to support low power mode etc.
 
MacBook Pros have already had a low power mode since forever. Have you guys really never noticed that they get extremely slow once the battery is below 10% or so?

This is out of necessity. When the battery gets that low, it can no longer supply as much current. An attempt to draw full power from the battery would cause the voltage to go down and the laptop would shut down.

So rather than shut down as soon as the battery can no longer deliver full power, MacOS throttles the system so you can keep working, albeit with less performance, for that last few % of battery life. Usually by this point you've gotten multiple battery warnings and would have plugged in if you were able to, so the system knows you're desperate and tries to keep working as long as it can.

iPhones do this too, by the way, but typically only when they reach 1% and it's less noticeable since iOS and the iPhone SOC are already so efficient.
 
downloaded the app and gave it go, huge improvements. my aging macbook air has gained an extra hour of battery life with this app. amazing
 
I would like to see the Optimized Battery Charging feature also available on MacBooks to reduce battery aging. Or an option in Energy Saver to limit the maximum charge of the battery to a specified level. People who use Thunderbolt 3 docks with connected devices and single cable charging can't just unplug the Thunderbolt cable to stop charging.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: manu chao
I've used turbo boost switcher for a year and its a great way to take back control over a MBP. Too often I'd previously be doing something that the system decided needed to use all available cores at max frequency such as video transcoding, and my laptop was suddenly a red hot brick that sounded like a nuclear reactor in thermal runaway with a 30 minute battery life. Switcher helps a lot with this by letting me choose whether this is what I want to happen (almost never is) - there used to also be an xcode utility that allowed you to disables cores on a per session basis, but this hasn't worked for me in some time.

Overall I'd like to see more from Apple in this area. If they won't sell laptops that are able to adequately cool themselves, they could at least empower us to control the CPU resources we want to deploy in any particular scenario (eg travel/home/work/day/night/quiet-area).
 
If you want to allow your mac to run longer, switch off Chrome (or close all unused tabs, or use Safari, Firefox), stop letting Spotify and other similar software turn on at star-up. Disable wifi when not using it. Any more suggestions?

Turn down screen brightness, turn off keyboard backlight...

I'd leave WiFi on, because most of what I do requires wifi, and do these instead.
 
Interesting note: Everyone here seems positive about slowing a MacBook? I have this strange recollection of lots of people complaining that MacBooks are too slow, the same processors are way faster in other machines, and the machines are a horrible value, etc. But never mind, I must have been hallucinating!

The article said that the slowed machine was plenty fast, which I can believe, since my 2013 is still plenty fast!

(I did upgrade to the 16", not because I need more speed, but because of a nagging issue that can't be repaired for less than the computer is worth....)

In a couple years, maybe 2025, apple will release "dark mode" for Mac, because inverting colors is a major project that takes many years to develop. These things can't be rushed!
 
Wait wait wait, first Pro Mode, now low-power mode? Soon there'll be clamoring to bring back "Normal" mode.

Kidding, but seriously this could be problematic if implemented incorrectly. However, I still believe Apple above ALL could pull this off properly, as even with all their missteps which ANY company WILL do in the world of reality, Apple's still Apple and their ace software team will hopefully drink their proverbial coffee and make this killer.

Additionally, though this could be killer, but just how necessary is it and at what trade off to performance? ADDITIONALLY - Why not just BUY an iPad to supplement low-power mode requirements? That's why I don't see this working; buy an iPad. Guarantee you Apple's way ahead of us on this thought process anyways.
 
Wait wait wait, first Pro Mode, now low-power mode? Soon there'll be clamoring to bring back "Normal" mode.

Kidding, but seriously this could be problematic if implemented incorrectly. However, I still believe Apple above ALL could pull this off properly, as even with all their missteps which ANY company WILL do in the world of reality, Apple's still Apple and their ace software team will hopefully drink their proverbial coffee and make this killer.

Additionally, though this could be killer, but just how necessary is it and at what trade off to performance? ADDITIONALLY - Why not just BUY an iPad to supplement low-power mode requirements? That's why I don't see this working; buy an iPad. Guarantee you Apple's way ahead of us on this thought process anyways.

MacBook Pro has option to always use GPU or auto switch between GPU and integrated graphics. Apple should have added the option to only use integrated graphics.
 
I’ve had turbo boost disabled on my 16” MBP since I got it on launch week. I never had to on my 2018 15” because it throttled constantly! But the 16" MacBook Pro will turbo drain it's 100Wh battery in an hour at full load I've found. When I'm finalizing an edit in FCPX, I'm making hundreds of small global adjustments that cause it to re-render whole chucks of my timeline over and over again. With turbo boost disabled I can edit quietly and comfortably on battery power for double the time (2-3 hours) and it's still plenty fast for my needs.
With Turboboost disabled the 16" is the perfect machine for me.
 
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.

When it comes to FCPX constantly background rendering an entire project while I'm experimenting with global adjustments (like color grading), it matter not if it finishes background rendering the entire project as I really only need the next few frames at a time. In that case my 16" MBP is far faster than necessary and is thus doing more work than necessary. Disabling Turboboost is the perfect compromise when I actively want my computer to do less background render work. And I still have access to all the other perks of a 16" inch, like dedicated GPU when I need it and the real reason I upgraded, the 8TB SSD.
 
  • Like
Reactions: IG88
Just picked it up---$10.00 is a decent deal for an extra chunk of battery.

These guys are going to get a lot of traffic today and will make some sales (probably have gotten a lot of traffic since Weasel Marco mentioned them).

They better get it while the getting is good, as Apple is going to Sherlock them.
 
Felt the need to register reading this thread. I am astonished how few peoples this days cares about the longevity of their Macs. For peoples that plays games or use a cpu intensive app this would add a lot of life to their machine as no Intel PC, whatever the brand last very long with a cpu at 95 degrees for long hours daily.
 
I’d say low power mode and low data mode. I’m not entirely sure how they would go about implementing it for the mac, given how many different configurations there can be. But low data could just be that any process that isn’t user initiated gets a throttled internet connection. And maybe they have a monitor view where you can see what apps are trying to upload/download what data and either approve or deny them.

For Low Data mode on the Mac, search for an app called Trip Mode.
 
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.

Well my Air doesn't "just work": it throttles once it reaches 74-75ºC but fan won't really kick in until 80ºC. I installed smcFanControl, set base to 2500rpm which is almost inaudible and crank it to the max 6500rpm once I see temps above 70ºC (isn't that "Pro Mode"?). Never had it throttling due to temp once again. And the same goes for the MBP I had before.
It's a perfectly cappable machine, Apple just made it not be one because they prefered "pure silence" (1200rpm) rather than functionality so it's not like it "just works".
 
Low power mode would be awesome! I'm all for it
As more people buy laptops and ditch the desktop I think it is a good idea
Not everyone has a spare battery pack to plug into their mac
I still wish the battery on Mac Laptops was user replaceable along with the RAM and SSD
But I've been wanting solar panels on the top cover of my laptop so it never happened. So the battery charges itself when outside in the sun. Or some sort of wireless automatic charging like the NEW iPhones will be getting next year.
[automerge]1579147697[/automerge]
PS I would gladly give up the ultra thin that all the laptops have adopted and copied Apple Air for a thicker more heavier laptop that you can unscrew the cover and replace and upgrade components

Wish you could replace the iPhone battery easily and on your own too
$1500 for iPhones and you should have the right to service your own phone
 
Last edited:
Can they put LOW POWER Function in MOJAVE and HIGH SIERRA TOO???
I still LOVE using my 2011 17 inch i7 4 core MacBook Pro! user replaceable everything! including battery
but stuck on high Sierra due to non metal graphics card
STILL LOVE USING IT. PORTS! LOTS OF PORTS. No dongles
 
I used to disable turbo boost on my Dell because I couldn't stand the fan noise. Whenever I used Adobe Premiere it would kick on the fan non-stop, even when there wasn't anything opened. I think this would be great.
 
Turbo Boost should always be on, but it should only be used for the purpose which it was designed for. Turbo Boost is designed to give a “short-term” boost when you launch an application, make a small change to a photo in photoshop or simply just loading af big website. It should not be used for rendering big files in Final Cut or calculate large combinations, in that situation the computer should just run the standard base frequency ;) But if Apple add a Pro Mode features that automatically turns on when you example rendering a big file and off again when the rendering is done. Then Apple could more intelligent reduce the amount of time Turbo Boost run at in normal use.
 
It could be fun, it's gonna lead to another gate of some sort. Just imagine the titles ”Apple stole your CPU speed so you have to buy a new MacBook!”. It's great that devs do stuff like this even if their app doesn't have a huge success because it gives us perspective to different scenarios, but I'd like for them to drop by Adobe from time to time - that Creative cloud app just eats RAM and battery for no reason.
[automerge]1579161889[/automerge]
Can they put LOW POWER Function in MOJAVE and HIGH SIERRA TOO???
I still LOVE using my 2011 17 inch i7 4 core MacBook Pro! user replaceable everything! including battery
but stuck on high Sierra due to non metal graphics card
STILL LOVE USING IT. PORTS! LOTS OF PORTS. No dongles

Great if it works for you, but you probably capped your ram and got an ssd and there's your upgradeability. The new ones have much better graphics, better CPUs, way more efficient CPUs, way better screens, are thin and lightweight (mobile devices you know), that's a lot more than 2-3 ports that you lose.
 
Last edited:
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.