16-inch MacBook Pro with M1 Max chip will have high power mode
In short: Apple spent a lot of time during its recent Unleashed event talking about the incredible power of its latest M1 Max-powered MacBook Pros. The company has now confirmed that the 16-inch version of its laptop equipped with the chip will have a “high power mode” to get the absolute best performance from the SoC.
MacRumors author Steve Moser was the first to spot mentions of high power mode in the beta version of Apple’s upcoming Monterey OS. When enabled, this feature “optimizes performance to better support demanding tasks” and “may result in louder fan noise.”
We found more information on high power mode in macOS RC: “Your Mac will optimize performance to better handle resource-intensive tasks. This can result in louder fan noise. ” https://t.co/4q3zlbyLnf pic.twitter.com/0mKVekGa0M
– Steve Moser (@SteveMoser) October 19, 2021
Apple confirmed MacRumors this high power mode will be part of Monterey, which is coming with the new MacBook Pro 14- and 16-inch laptops. However, this feature will only be present in the 16-inch model with the M1 Max chip – but not in the smaller laptop or any other with the M1 Pro / M1. This combo starts at $ 3499 and goes up to $ 6099 at max specs.
Apple made some bold performance claims on the M1 Max during its Unleashed event, including it consumes 70 percent less power than an eight-core Intel Core i7-11800H processor while achieving 1.7x the performance. It also rivals the highest-end GPU found in the largest PC notebooks, but uses 100W less power. It remains to be seen if the high power mode is what provides these stats, or if it adds even more performance to the M1 Max.
The M1 Max is equipped with the same 10-core processor as the M1 Pro, while the number of GPU cores has been increased to 32 – four times the number of the original M1. It boasts 57 billion transistors, making the SoC the largest chip Apple has ever produced.
You can watch all Apple Unleashed events right here.
