How FileVault and APFS Encrypted are enabled and managed differently, and details of how they work internally. Concentrates on T2 and Apple silicon Macs, but also covers older Intel models.
Apple silicon
How Apple silicon CPUs control core frequencies and power use when running in Low Power mode. Includes M4 Pro and M3 Pro data, and estimates of energy requirements.
Apple refers to Energy Modes and Power Modes, and despite older MacBook Pro models offering Low Power mode, tells us that isn’t what Low Power mode is now. Here are the observations and explanations.
It’s September 2016. Apple has just released the iPhone 7, with its first big.LITTLE CPU cores, then 4 days later macOS 10.12 Sierra. How does it transition from there to release the M1 in four years?
How the number of bundles in /System/Library has risen from Mojave to Sequoia, and why the last 5 years have been so different from the previous 20.
Did you think your Intel Mac doesn’t support the 20 Gb/s speed of USB 3.2 Gen 2×2? It can do, with a little extra hardware support, just as it will a USB4 SSD.
How to connect a USB4 SSD to get better performance from an Intel Mac. Should you buy a Thunderbolt 4 hub, or a Thunderbolt 5 dock? Do any of these live ‘up to’ their claimed performance?
Can you promote threads set to run on E cores so they run on P cores instead? Can you demote threads set to run on cores so they run in the background on E cores?
Why data compression is everyday, and how its performance problems can generalise into tasks of similar structure.
Did you spot the change that didn’t take place as expected in the 15.2 update this week? It marks the end of the Intel era for Macs.
The Eclectic Light Company 