I’ve a 16″ MacBook Professional with M3 Max CPU and 48 GB of RAM. At the moment I’ve macOS Tahoe 26.1 put in.
Earlier than the discharge of Tahoe, I used to be operating macOS Sequoia and was usually very pleased with the efficiency and energy consumption/runtime beneath battery. That has modified since upgrading to Tahoe, and one of the best ways I can summarize is that it virtually appears like going again to an Intel-based pc, in that the pc will get sizzling, battery does not final as lengthy, and followers typically spin even doing gentle work (in conditions the place, earlier than Tahoe, they might be off).
A part of the difficulty was as a consequence of Electron functions which I exploit, akin to Visible Studio Code and Sign. The state of affairs was a lot worse once I upgraded, nevertheless it improved as quickly as an Electron bug was fastened, and functions deployed the up to date Electron model.
Nonetheless, there are nonetheless points. I’ve iStat Menus put in, and as quickly as I discover the pc warming up and the fan on, the state of affairs will probably be just like this:
Basically, WindowServer will probably be utilizing 40-50% CPU, GPU utilization will probably be 20%-25% (barely decrease in that screenshot), and the show is pegged at close to 120 FPS.
The next determine represents a baseline state of affairs. Observe the a lot better figures, which translate right into a cooler pc, followers off and diminished energy draw:
Now and again I additionally discover an intermediate state of affairs, the place WindowServer CPU utilization is at ~25%, GPU utilization at ~10%, and the show is pegged at 60 FPS.
I’ve observed some conditions the place this occurs:
- Within the WhatsApp desktop app, if I’ve a chat open the place a screenshot or PDF (and maybe different forms of attachments) are seen within the window. Switching to a chat containing solely texts makes the issue go away.
- Within the Music app, if I seek for an artist and open e.g. their Necessities playlist. If I’m going again to my track library, the issue goes away.
- Sure web sites that I open on Safari (e.g. github.com if not logged in). I believe it has to do with animations/video as could be seen within the non-logged-in github.com web site. If I open a clean tab (or change to many different web sites which do not have this drawback), the issue goes away. Nonetheless, if I go away the issue web site open on one in all Safari’s home windows (even when it is on the background, whereas one other window with a clean tab or non-problematic web site is open on the foreground), the excessive CPU/GPU utilization and FPS stays.
Questioning if anybody discovered some sort of setting that alleviates this drawback. I think about disabling ProMotion would assist, however not absolutely clear up the issue, and naturally that is only a band-aid — this is among the options that made me purchase this explicit pc, and I do not wish to lose it.
