Tuning your Mac for performance can be a good investment of time. Beware of general benchmarks, though, and develop your own objective measurements. Then identify the rate-limiting step methodically, so you can address that.
Activity Monitor
macOS virtual machines are preferentially run on P cores. Details on their performance, core allocation, frequencies and power use/
Details of their frequency, ISA, power use, and how macOS allocates threads to P cores and relocates them. Supported by data from an M4 Pro.
One of the most common reasons for opening Activity Monitor is to check the % CPU of processes that might be running out of control. How accurate are those figures, though, and should you believe them?
Why you shouldn’t try killing kernel_task, but take action to help cool your Mac and reduce the heat it’s producing.
How could you study how Apple silicon CPU cores are used to run code? Comparisons between Activity Monitor, Xcode Instruments, and powermetrics.
The spinning beachball, a juddery interface, and fans running full pelt: what’s CPU doing in Activity Monitor, and what should you do about it?
How to tell whether an app has a memory leak, what to do about it, and the differences from a kernel memory leak.
Virtual CPU cores are of one type, and QoS has no effect in virtualised macOS. This has consequences for both the host and guest macOS.
Many apps could benefit users of Apple silicon Macs by giving them controls over core use by their threads. Here’s how that can be done simply and effectively.
The Eclectic Light Company 