Apple is going out all guns blazing with the next versions of its M1 chips. The company, which announced the new M1 Pro and M1 Max chips earlier this week, will reportedly be putting a special ‘High Power Mode’ button on the M1 Max version of the Macbook Pro. The button will obviously be used to kick the new Macbook Pro into high gear, getting it ready for the most resource intensive tasks. It’s likely a way for Apple to ensure that the laptop’s battery efficiency remains within permissible limits and the M1 Max’s full power is used only when it’s absolutely needed.
The feature was reported by MacRumours, whose contributor Steve Moser discovered the High Power mode within the code of macOS Monterey beta. The publication said that it has confirmed the feature and that it will be coming in the “highest configurations” of the new Macbook Pro devices. The setting is apparently the opposite of Apple’s Low Power mode software, which decreases resource usage to optimize the battery life of a device when its battery gets close to depletion.
Further, the Macrumours article said that the feature will only be available on the 16-inch Macbook Pro and not the 14-inch version. Which suggests that the 14-inch variant of the Macbook Pro will not be able to use the full power of the M1 Max chip, even if you do choose that variant.
It’s possible that Apple expects the M1 Max chip to only be used by creators, film makers, graphic designers and others who need sustained performance at high power as well. If so, the company could be placing such a button on the device to reduce the thermal limits on the laptop and allow the chip to perform at high capacity over sustained periods.
Apple announced the new M1 Pro and M1 Max chips at the its ‘Unleashed’ event earlier this week. The chips will come on the new Macbook Pro laptops, both of which are set to start selling from next week. Both of the new Macbook Pros start at over Rs. 1,90,000, while the M1 Max versions will cost over Rs. 2,00,000.
