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

Related Forum: macOS Monterey

Top Rated Comments

Reason077 Avatar
Reason077
59 months ago
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!
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dannys1 Avatar
dannys1
59 months ago

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I already does "high power mode" when plugged in - that's the point.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
L
l0stl0rd
59 months ago
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.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Reason077 Avatar
Reason077
59 months ago

Haha yeah the 486 Dx2 with the turbo button, that were times but on mine it was nearly always on.
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.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
A
Adithya007
59 months ago
So low power mode, normal and high power mode system profiles. Basically what the Windows laptops have had for years. Innovation my ass.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
A
adamjackson
59 months ago

High Power Mode is going to be a physical "Turbo" button, a throwback to forever ago...
I'd welcome a Turbo Button with HAL red glowing eye.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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