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Macs May Be Getting 'High Power Mode' Option to Boost Performance, According to Latest macOS Monterey Beta

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Apple's latest developer beta of macOS Monterey contains references to a "High Power Mode" that could boost performance when a MacBook isn't connected to a power adapter.

macos-monterey-beta.jpg

The reference, spotted by 9to5Mac, harks back to a similar so-called "Pro Mode" that was found in a developer beta of macOS Catalina 10.15.3 back in January 2020.

"Pro Mode" was referred to in the code as making apps run faster at the expense of consuming more battery and increasing fan noise, but the feature never made it to the public Catalina release and references to such a mode were absent in Monterey until beta 8, which was released on Tuesday.

"High Power Mode" isn't available to users, and beyond the name appearing in code, nothing is known about the referenced feature, although a "Low Power Mode" already exists in macOS Monterey that reduces performance in MacBooks to conserve battery life, so presumably "High Power Mode" will operate at the other extreme and let users run apps and hardware at maximum performance when not connected to power.

It's unclear whether Apple will announce "High Power Mode" as an upcoming feature in macOS Monterey. Likewise, there's no way of knowing if the feature would be available on all Macs or be exclusive to certain models, such as the upcoming 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models rumored to drop this fall. Apple is expected to release macOS Monterey in the next few weeks.

Article Link: Macs May Be Getting 'High Power Mode' Option to Boost Performance, According to Latest macOS Monterey Beta
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2021/09/29/high-power-mode-for-macs-macos-monterey-beta-8/
What I'd really like is an option to always limit charging to 80% to preserve battery health, unless I explicitly select "charge to full now" in the battery menu bar. Current macOS guesses when to limit charging when you have "optimised battery charging" enabled, but in my case it often gets it wrong!
 
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pardon ME. but seems to make better sense to have HIGH POWER MODE only function when the laptop is plugged into a power source. NOT when it is unplugged.

By the way. They optimized Windows 11 two good that you actually get HIGHER Geekbench scores compared to running Windows 10. NOW THATS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
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Freeangel1 said:
pardon ME. but seems to make better sense to have HIGH POWER MODE only function when the laptop is plugged into a power source. NOT when it is unplugged.

By the way. They optimized Windows 11 two good that you actually get HIGHER Geekbench scores compared to running Windows 10. NOW THATS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...

I already does "high power mode" when plugged in - that's the point.
 
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dannys1 said:
I already does "high power mode" when plugged in - that's the point.
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No, like right now even when plugged in the fans don’t run until after a while as Apple prefers a quiet profile. So this mode can be like no throttling, always fan on mode for those who want the absolute lowest temperatures while not caring about fan noise and stuff. 🥴
 
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l0stl0rd said:
Not sure if I really care that would have been nice for intel machines perhaps.

On the M1 Air there is no difference if it is plugged in or not anyway.
Click to expand...

It's presumably also intended for the M1X or whatever they're calling it. That chip should have proper "desktop class" performance when in the high power mode.
 
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Reason077 said:
It's presumably also intended for the M1X or whatever they're calling it. That chip should have proper "desktop class" performance when in the high power mode.
Click to expand...
It might anyway, the mode might make sense however if it clocks the low performance cores higher ;)
 
I prefer a better thermal system to prevent throttling, thank you.
Although I'd imagine the more powerful M1X/M2 will have less heat dissipation if it's quite a lot more energy efficient compared to Intel equivalents.
 
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I suspect this feature would be behind MacBook Pro and probably only for the latest MacBook Pro rather than those that has Touch Bar.
 
dannys1 said:
I already does "high power mode" when plugged in - that's the point.
Click to expand...
I know forsure older MacBooks had the same performance whether plugged in or not. But correct me if I’m wrong even recent mbps like my 2018 get the same geek bench scores being plugged in or not. That’s what ive found.
 
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Where can I buy a MacBook on a payment plan cuss Im a broke hoooo with a ****** credit score in the states >.< NEVER TRIED MACOS
 
l0stl0rd said:
Not sure if I really care that would have been nice for intel machines perhaps.

On the M1 Air there is no difference if it is plugged in or not anyway.
Click to expand...
On intel iMacs I have had, I use a menu bar widget app “Turbo Boost Switcher” to actually turn off the burst overclocking of intel CPUs… makes it run cooler, quieter, not really needed 99.9% of the time, it can’t run for long (this is what makes laptops go from 50C to 90C in a few seconds).

Only useful if the system starts chugging along, then maybe (provided it can keep up being on).

What this maybe means though, is that incoming Macs might not be able to keep the same benchmark scores in both plugged and unplugged states.
 
upandown said:
I know forsure older MacBooks had the same performance whether plugged in or not. But correct me if I’m wrong even recent mbps like my 2018 get the same geek bench scores being plugged in or not. That’s what ive found.
Click to expand...
Indeed, the Max Tech channel guys which tend to pin MacBooks against all sorts of ultrabooks and gaming semiportable laptops out there tend to always keep the MacBook counter part unplugged (since it doesn’t change the outcome) while doing double benchmarks (plugged and plugged) on the others.
 
l0stl0rd said:
Haha yeah the 486 Dx2 with the turbo button, that were times but on mine it was nearly always on.
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The reason for that "turbo" button on old PCs was for compatibility, not power saving. There were actually old DOS games that would run way too fast on higher clocked CPUs!

By the time of the 486, however, pretty much everything could handle fast clocked CPUs without any issues.
 
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Interesting, however nowhere near enough information to tell if it is anything other than a useless button no-one will ever bother to use.

Hopefully, the next waves of AS are fast enough that they don't need to run at full speed to feel super fast. What if the 'M1X' had a normal operation configuration of 4/4+8GPU (same as M1), for fantastic battery life and cool operation? What if high power mode allowed the extra cores to come online?

Or what if high-power mode is an automatic switch, like what happens on 15"/16" MBPs, switching between iGPU and dGPU, depending on what applications tell the Mac they need?
 
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Reason077 said:
What I'd really like is an option to always limit charging to 80% to preserve battery health, unless I explicitly select "charge to full now" in the battery menu bar. Current macOS guesses when to limit charging when you have "optimised battery charging" enabled, but in my case it often gets it wrong!
Click to expand...
https://github.com/davidwernhart/AlDente

Not afilliated with it, but been using this since I got my 16" to only ever charge my battery to 90%

Works a treat.
 
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