Mac Studio Still Lacks 'High Power Mode' Offered on Some MacBook Pro and Mac Mini Models

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Ars Technica's Andrew Cunningham today published his review of the new Mac Studio. In it, he confirmed that the Mac Studio with the M4 Max chip lacks High Power Mode for intensive workloads. He also tested the higher-end Mac Studio with the M3 Ultra chip, and he did not mention anything about High Power Mode for that model either.

High Power Mode Feature 2
Mac Studio review units are running macOS Sequoia 15.3, according to the Geekbench database. macOS Sequoia 15.4 is currently in beta testing, but it is unclear if that update will expand High Power Mode to the Mac Studio.

Apple says High Power Mode allows a Mac's fans to run at higher speeds, and this additional cooling allows the system to deliver higher performance for graphics-intensive sustained workloads, such as 8K video color grading. On supported Macs, the setting can be turned on when the computer is on battery power or plugged in.

High Power Mode is currently available on 14-inch MacBook Pro models with the M3 Max, M4 Pro, or M4 Max chips, 16-inch MacBook Pro models with the M4 Pro or M1 Max through M4 Max chips, and on the Mac mini with the M4 Pro chip.

Given that High Power Mode is offered on MacBook Pro models with the M4 Max chip, it seems like Apple has made a deliberate choice to not offer it on the Mac Studio with the same chip. It could simply be that the Mac Studio is a large desktop computer, meaning that High Power Mode is not necessary due to the lack of battery life or thermal constraints to begin with. However, we have not confirmed Apple's actual reasoning behind this decision.

It might not matter much, regardless.

In his Mac mini review last year, Cunningham said High Power Mode performance gains were "essentially negligible," despite "considerably increased" fan noise. However, he acknowledged that his tests were short and that High Power Mode could be more beneficial "over many hours of activity." Apple says the feature is for "sustained" workloads.

High Power Mode can be enabled in the System Settings app under "Battery" or "Energy."

Related Roundup: Mac Studio
Tag: High Power Mode
Buyer's Guide: Mac Studio (Neutral)
Related Forum: Mac Studio

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Top Rated Comments

GMShadow Avatar
GMShadow
10 months ago
I'm guessing it runs in High Power Mode all the time. It's a thicc desktop.
Score: 43 Votes (Like | Disagree)
albert421 Avatar
albert421
10 months ago
It is not a battery power device. Why would it need the mode.
Score: 30 Votes (Like | Disagree)
iSee Avatar
iSee
10 months ago
The Mac Studio is essentially in high power mode all the time.
Score: 25 Votes (Like | Disagree)
foobarbaz Avatar
foobarbaz
10 months ago
Cant we safely assume that desktop Macs just always run in high-power mode?

With the bigger case and fans and unlimited electricity there’s no need to default to a slightly more efficient mode.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AngerDanger Avatar
AngerDanger
10 months ago
FWIW, the MacRumors bot isn't an AI, it's the name of the forum user that posts articles so they can exist on the Wordpress-based front page and the Xenforo-based forums.


It is not a battery power device. Why would it need the mode. Who ever wrote this post didn’t think for a second.
Apple includes High Power Mode on its desktop, the Mac mini. It's even mentioned in the article.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
attohs Avatar
attohs
10 months ago
The Mac Studio is always in High Power mode. So is the Mac Pro. They have nice big fans that move lots of air and do not make much noise at high RPM compared to the little fans in MacBook Pros and Mac minis. Are you going to pay me for doing journalism for you?
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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