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cores

How macOS manages M1 CPU cores

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From the 8 cores of the original M1 chip to the M1 Ultra’s 20, this is how macOS manages threads from apps, services and other code.

April 25, 2022 Macs, Technology

macOS has different strategies for M1 cores

There are two situations when M1 chips confine code to just one of their Performance cores: during startup, before the other cores are running, and when preparing an update.

March 17, 2022 Macs, Technology

CPU percentage is misleading on M1 Macs

In Activity Monitor, % CPU isn’t on a scale of 0-100. In M1 Macs, it also makes no distinction between E and P cores, nor does it allow for their changing frequency.

February 24, 2022 Macs, Technology

Last Week on My Mac: A Christmas Core Carol

Apple’s first quad-core chip, the A10 launched 5 years ago, had 2 P and 2 E cores, but could only run one type of core at a time. We’ve come a long way since then.

December 5, 2021 Macs, Technology

Last Week on My Mac: Feeling fast, the psychology of computer performance

We commonly suffer failures of the psychology of Mac performance, when system background tasks overwhelm the processor and bring the interface to a grinding halt

May 23, 2021 Macs, Technology

Getting more from Activity Monitor: CPU

What you can learn about the processes running on your Mac, its processor cores, even the files which an app has open.

May 18, 2021 Macs, Technology

How M1 Macs feel faster than Intel models: it’s about QoS

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By segregating macOS background tasks on Efficiency cores, M1 Macs can run user apps unfettered on their Performance cores. And that feels really fast.

May 17, 2021 Macs, Technology, Updates

Cores shouldn’t all be the same: M1 Macs do better

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How the M1’s asymmetric cores can run background tasks more efficiently, or deliver high performance, according to Quality of Service.

May 14, 2021 Macs, Technology, Updates

How macOS manages tasks on cores: a draft

Trying to get a more coherent overview of the different paths to concurrent, asynchronous, and background task management in macOS. Draft for discussion.

May 16, 2017 Macs, Technology

Hasn’t macOS changed? How it doesn’t work like it used to

macOS doesn’t work like it used to. With heuristic task dispatching and sensitivity to factors like quality of network service, troubleshooting can get fiendishly difficult.

May 9, 2017 Macs, Technology

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