Likewise, Slack is currently a big drain on batteries. Even consider running Safari for normal browsing and Chrome only when you need it for heavy Google work - that's what I do. So, if you don't need something that's Chrome-only, consider running Safari. Some tests have shown turning off Chrome can save you up to an hour in battery life, which is quite significant. Chrome is cross-platform and has become almost Internet Explorer-like in its desire to make the browser a platform. This is especially true for M1 Macs, which have four out of eight cores dedicated to power efficiency (the other four are for performance).
Safari is better on battery life than Chrome because Apple only makes Safari for macOS and can code it to be as efficient as possible. While not addressed by Apple, the potential for CPU performance issues should raise caution among interested professionals.Macbook Pro With M1 Chip (Image credit: iMore).Laptop expert Dave Lee claims the new 2018 MacBook Pro 15″ with an i9 processor has thermal issues that throttle its CPU performance.And if Lee is correct about the issue being with the design/chassis, then it stands to reason that all devices of this model would be affected.įor professionals considering the new 2018 MacBook Pro, the reports of such thermal issues could steer you away from the device for now, especially if the defect is confirmed as a model-wide issue. But other reviewers have also reported some throttling.
It should be noted that, at the time of publication, Apple hasn’t confirmed whether or not this is a defect in Lee’s device, or a model-wide issue. The issue, which Lee dubbed “thermal throttling,” is something he said isn’t acceptable, and should be addressed by Apple. However, when Lee ran the same render again–this time with the 2018 MacBook stuck in his freezer–its render time dropped by nearly 12 minutes. In his initial test, the 2018 i9 MacBook was nearly five minutes slower in rendering the clip than the 2017 model with an i7 processor. Lee tested this by recording render times for a 4K clip edited in Adobe Premiere Pro. Do to its overheating, Lee said, the MacBook Pro’s i9 “can’t even maintain the base clock speed.” For those wondering, the base speed is 2.9 GHz. The problem, according to Lee, is the MacBook Pro’s chassis: It simply isn’t big enough to properly cool the CPU. SEE: Computer hardware depreciation calculator (Tech Pro Research)
For his review, Lee looked specifically at the Intel Core i9 CPU and how well it fared in the new MacBook. Lee is a technology reviewer who, at the time of this writing, has some 1.4 million subscribers to his YouTube channel. The 2018 15″ Apple MacBook Pro has a design feature that may throttle its CPU performance, according to laptop expert Dave Lee on YouTube. Customers can expect the new 15-inch MacBook Pro to be up to 70% faster, and the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar to be up to 2X faster, as shown in the performance results on our website. We apologize to any customer who has experienced less than optimal performance on their new systems.
A bug fix is included in today’s macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 Supplemental Update and is recommended. The company issued the following statement:įollowing extensive performance testing under numerous workloads, we’ve identified that there is a missing digital key in the firmware that impacts the thermal management system and could drive clock speeds down under heavy thermal loads on the new MacBook Pro. UPDATE: On Tuesday, July 24, 2018, Apple confirmed the thermal management issues present in the 2018 MacBook Pro.