'High Power Mode' coming to 16-inch MacBook Pro with M1 Max, Apple confirms

Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware
Apple has confirmed that 16-inch MacBook Pro models equipped with an M1 Max chip will feature a "High Power Mode" that is expected to temporarily increase performance.

Credit: Apple
Credit: Apple


Rumors of a "High Power Mode" first surfaced in late September, when code strings within the macOS Monterey revealed the existence of a special operating mode that could make a Mac run faster at the expense of decreased battery life and increased fan noise.

Although just a rumor up until Thursday, Apple has now confirmed the existence of the feature to MacRumors. According to the site, High Power Mode will only be available on 16-inch MacBook Pro models with an M1 Max chip. In other words, 14-inch MacBook Pros and all MacBook Pro variants with M1 Pro chips won't get it.

Code strings discovered in October by Steve Moser suggested that Apple will warn users when they enable the setting, advising them that their Mac "will optimize performance to better support resource-intensive tasks. This may result in louder fan noise."

The feature appears to be the opposite of Low Power Mode, which is being introduced in macOS Monterey. Similar to how the mode works on iPhone, Low Power Mode on macOS cuts down on battery-intensive tasks in an effort to squeeze a bit more life out of a charge.

Read on AppleInsider
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 28
    Absolutely fantastic
    aderutterjas99watto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 28
    thttht Posts: 5,394member
    Well, wish there was more than just acknowledging the existence of the feature. Wonder how much of a performance improvement it is going to be.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 28
    anomeanome Posts: 1,531member
    So, is it enough of a feature for me to change my mind about getting a 14 inch over a 16 inch? Probably not, but who can really say without actual numbers, or even something a bit more detailed than "this is a feature that exists".
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 4 of 28
    Cool, well we should know a lot more next week :)
    jas99watto_cobra
  • Reply 5 of 28
    It probably doesn't boost performance. It probably just cranks the fans so that it doesn't have to thermally slow down.
    williamlondonbeowulfschmidtwatto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 28
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,090member
    anome said:
    So, is it enough of a feature for me to change my mind about getting a 14 inch over a 16 inch? Probably not, but who can really say without actual numbers, or even something a bit more detailed than "this is a feature that exists".
    A coworker ruined my 2017 MBP a few months ago, and I've been waiting with no laptop during this time to see what Apple comes up with.  These new MBP's is exactly what I've been waiting for and what I buy will be based on real-world reviews so I'm eagerly waiting for those to come out.  I see a mid-tier M1MAX model w/64GB just because.  

    These are fantastic machines. 
    williamlondonjas99Alex_VBeatswatto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 28
    JWSCJWSC Posts: 1,203member
    All this makes me wonder what they have in store for the 27 inch iMac, where power draw and battery life are not a concern.  The sunsetting of the iMac Pro may be an indication of what we will see next year.
    AniMillwatto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 28
    I believe that the iMac Pro is only sunset as an Intel machine. I’m guessing that the next iteration will be a 28” iMac Pro w/ the M1 Pro, and an iMac Max with the M1 MAX chip. Also perhaps a Mac Mini Pro with both high-end chips (wishing). The rumor of a 27” Liquid Retina Display for said iMac’s and as a separate display are rolling out. I also think we’ll see the base 24” iMac get up to the best M1 Pro only.


    watto_cobra
  • Reply 9 of 28
    It. Just. Keeps. Getting. Better. 
    williamlondonAlex_Vwatto_cobra
  • Reply 10 of 28
    AniMill said:
    I believe that the iMac Pro is only sunset as an Intel machine. I’m guessing that the next iteration will be a 28” iMac Pro w/ the M1 Pro, and an iMac Max with the M1 MAX chip. Also perhaps a Mac Mini Pro with both high-end chips (wishing). The rumor of a 27” Liquid Retina Display for said iMac’s and as a separate display are rolling out. I also think we’ll see the base 24” iMac get up to the best M1 Pro only.


    As good as dreams go. But I think at this stage, the big boy iMac really needs to be 30-32”. 

    27 almost seems small these days. 
    Alex_VMacProwatto_cobra
  • Reply 11 of 28
    AniMill said:
    I believe that the iMac Pro is only sunset as an Intel machine. I’m guessing that the next iteration will be a 28” iMac Pro w/ the M1 Pro, and an iMac Max with the M1 MAX chip. Also perhaps a Mac Mini Pro with both high-end chips (wishing). The rumor of a 27” Liquid Retina Display for said iMac’s and as a separate display are rolling out. I also think we’ll see the base 24” iMac get up to the best M1 Pro only.


    As good as dreams go. But I think at this stage, the big boy iMac really needs to be 30-32”. 

    27 almost seems small these days. 
    Do you think so? I just bought a new monitor for my Mac Mini and at the last minute changed from a 30" to a 27" because an article on Tom's Hardware suggested a 30" monitor might be too big. It sounded like good advice, but to be honest I'd love a bigger monitor, just wondering what other people's experience is with the 30" monitors in normal home/office desk environments.
    JWSCwatto_cobra
  • Reply 12 of 28
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,301moderator
    It probably doesn't boost performance. It probably just cranks the fans so that it doesn't have to thermally slow down.
    I'd expect that the system is setup to run at lower sustained clock speeds to keep the temperature down - mainly the GPU in Apple's case and would only be needed on the Max model. Gaming laptops have the same thing. When they run at maximum performance, the fan noise is loud but dropping to say 80% performance can run very quietly and most of the time the user won't notice a difference in performance.



    This was a problem with the 5500M and 5600M in the Intel MBPs, they were fast but the fan noise was loud. They could easily run at 80% maximum, run close to silent sustained and the user would still get really good performance.

    This may be why some compute benchmarks on the M1 Max are lower if the default is to run the system a bit slower by default. It would mainly affect the shader processing units.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 13 of 28
    mjtomlinmjtomlin Posts: 2,673member
    AniMill said:
    I believe that the iMac Pro is only sunset as an Intel machine. I’m guessing that the next iteration will be a 28” iMac Pro w/ the M1 Pro, and an iMac Max with the M1 MAX chip. Also perhaps a Mac Mini Pro with both high-end chips (wishing). The rumor of a 27” Liquid Retina Display for said iMac’s and as a separate display are rolling out. I also think we’ll see the base 24” iMac get up to the best M1 Pro only.


    Base M2 will come in 2 configurations; CPU 4/4 and 6/4, GPU 8 and 12. All lowest end base models will still ship with an M1 as they do now, but  24" iMac and mini will also get M2 models. The MacBook Air will stick with the M1. We'll see the return of "MacBook" with the M2, to fill the gap between the Air and new MacBook Pro. Starting at $1299. (13" MBP will be discontinued.)

    I think we will see a mini "pro" using the new M1 SoC's. Still not sure what they're going to do with the iMac "pro" though. Low-end models could use the new M1 SoC's as well and possibly get a beefed up M1 Ultra with 16/4 CPU and 64 GPU cores.
    edited October 2021 watto_cobra
  • Reply 14 of 28
    seanjseanj Posts: 318member
    AniMill said:
    I believe that the iMac Pro is only sunset as an Intel machine. I’m guessing that the next iteration will be a 28” iMac Pro w/ the M1 Pro, and an iMac Max with the M1 MAX chip. Also perhaps a Mac Mini Pro with both high-end chips (wishing). The rumor of a 27” Liquid Retina Display for said iMac’s and as a separate display are rolling out. I also think we’ll see the base 24” iMac get up to the best M1 Pro only.


    As good as dreams go. But I think at this stage, the big boy iMac really needs to be 30-32”. 

    27 almost seems small these days. 
    Do you think so? I just bought a new monitor for my Mac Mini and at the last minute changed from a 30" to a 27" because an article on Tom's Hardware suggested a 30" monitor might be too big. It sounded like good advice, but to be honest I'd love a bigger monitor, just wondering what other people's experience is with the 30" monitors in normal home/office desk environments.
    I use a Phillips 40” 4K monitor at home and since the pandemic for working at home too. Excellent experience though I do find myself fancying their latest 43” model…
    edited October 2021 williamlondonAlex_Vwatto_cobra
  • Reply 15 of 28
    GG1GG1 Posts: 483member
    Bring back the Turbo button!

    Alex_VhammeroftruthBeatsdocno42watto_cobra
  • Reply 16 of 28
    anome said:
    So, is it enough of a feature for me to change my mind about getting a 14 inch over a 16 inch? Probably not, but who can really say without actual numbers, or even something a bit more detailed than "this is a feature that exists".
    My guess is that the M1 and M1 Pro are already capable of this because it’s within the thermal and noise limits of the laptop. The M1 Max likely can cross that line and offers an optional setting to enable the battery sucking leaf blower mode.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 17 of 28
    mjtomlin said:
    AniMill said:
    I believe that the iMac Pro is only sunset as an Intel machine. I’m guessing that the next iteration will be a 28” iMac Pro w/ the M1 Pro, and an iMac Max with the M1 MAX chip. Also perhaps a Mac Mini Pro with both high-end chips (wishing). The rumor of a 27” Liquid Retina Display for said iMac’s and as a separate display are rolling out. I also think we’ll see the base 24” iMac get up to the best M1 Pro only.


    Base M2 will come in 2 configurations; CPU 4/4 and 6/4, GPU 8 and 12. All lowest end base models will still ship with an M1 as they do now, but  24" iMac and mini will also get M2 models. The MacBook Air will stick with the M1. We'll see the return of "MacBook" with the M2, to fill the gap between the Air and new MacBook Pro. Starting at $1299. (13" MBP will be discontinued.)

    I think we will see a mini "pro" using the new M1 SoC's. Still not sure what they're going to do with the iMac "pro" though. Low-end models could use the new M1 SoC's as well and possibly get a beefed up M1 Ultra with 16/4 CPU and 64 GPU cores.
    The rumor is that the MacBook Air will be the first to get the M2 and that M# will be incremented for each new line of chips: M2,  M2 Pro, M2 Max and M2 Extreme for the MacPro.

    The Mini will never be the fabled headless Mac, because it would cannibalize iMac and MacPro sales. The Mini will get the base M2 which will fix some of the M1’s failings, such as support for two monitors, 4 Thunderbolt and up to 32GB RAM. The Air and 13” MBP will get the same. I suspect they will change the based M2 core count to 6/2 in favor of performance since the M2 should come with the improved efficiency of the A15 and an upgraded low noise cooling system, just like it’s big brothers. The GPU core count won’t change.
    edited October 2021 watto_cobra
  • Reply 18 of 28
    mjtomlinmjtomlin Posts: 2,673member
    mjtomlin said:
    AniMill said:
    I believe that the iMac Pro is only sunset as an Intel machine. I’m guessing that the next iteration will be a 28” iMac Pro w/ the M1 Pro, and an iMac Max with the M1 MAX chip. Also perhaps a Mac Mini Pro with both high-end chips (wishing). The rumor of a 27” Liquid Retina Display for said iMac’s and as a separate display are rolling out. I also think we’ll see the base 24” iMac get up to the best M1 Pro only.


    Base M2 will come in 2 configurations; CPU 4/4 and 6/4, GPU 8 and 12. All lowest end base models will still ship with an M1 as they do now, but  24" iMac and mini will also get M2 models. The MacBook Air will stick with the M1. We'll see the return of "MacBook" with the M2, to fill the gap between the Air and new MacBook Pro. Starting at $1299. (13" MBP will be discontinued.)

    I think we will see a mini "pro" using the new M1 SoC's. Still not sure what they're going to do with the iMac "pro" though. Low-end models could use the new M1 SoC's as well and possibly get a beefed up M1 Ultra with 16/4 CPU and 64 GPU cores.
    The rumor is that the MacBook Air will be the first to get the M2 and that M# will be incremented for each new line of chips: M2,  M2 Pro, M2 Max and M2 Extreme for the MacPro.

    The Mini will never be the fabled headless Mac, because it would cannibalize iMac and MacPro sales. The Mini will get the base M2 which will fix some of the M1’s failings, such as support for two monitors, 4 Thunderbolt and up to 32GB RAM. The Air and 13” MBP will get the same. I suspect they will change the based M2 core count to 6/2 in favor of performance since the M2 should come with the improved efficiency of the A15 and an upgraded low noise cooling system, just like it’s big brothers. The GPU core count won’t change.

    I think the M1 will be around longer than most people seem to think. Apple is going to want to maximize its investment in each generation of chips and that's done by volume. The M2, when released will be offered as an "upgrade" option with the M1 remaining for the base configuration in all models allowing them to drop the entry level price.

    I don't think we'll see a 6/2 CPU in a passively cooled device (MBA or iPad Pro). It will remain 4+4/8, and instead there will be an increase in max clock frequency to boost performance (when necessary). Apple could very well target a 6+4/10 part and bin to create multiple variations. (And I do believe GPU core count will increase as that's what they did in the A15.)
    muthuk_vanalingamwatto_cobra
  • Reply 19 of 28
    BeatsBeats Posts: 3,073member
    I thought one of the main draws to M1 was no fans?
    williamlondon
  • Reply 20 of 28
    docno42docno42 Posts: 3,755member
    It probably doesn't boost performance. It probably just cranks the fans so that it doesn't have to thermally slow down.
    Well, if during normal use the CPU would throttle but in this mode the CPU no longer has to throttle then yeah, over all it's a boost in performance.  

    Also about time Apple started adding options like this for those of us who want max performance!
    watto_cobra
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