Apple has broken its silence on reports the most expensive version of the brand new 15-inch MacBook Pro model is suffering from CPU throttling.
The company has confirmed the issue – which centres around the six-core Intel Core i9 processor cutting performance under heavy loads – is a bug. The company has released a supplemental macOS update to fix the issue, which only affects the top-shelf, £2,700 model.
Following a number of theories circulating online, Apple has confirmed the issue pertains to the notebook’s thermal management system. The software update coming today adds a missing digital key, which will remedy the problem.
In a statement, an Apple spokesperson said: “Following extensive performance testing under numerous workloads, we’ve identified that there is a missing digital key in the firmware that impacts the thermal management system and could drive clock speeds down.
“We apologise to any customer who has experienced less than optimal performance on their new systems.”
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Last week, one early adopter found the advertised clock speeds of 2.9GHz were as low as the 2.2GHz during heavy work loads. Those speeds are more akin to the i7 model, which is a little farther down the food chain.
The user was able to achieve speeds closer to the advertised level by placing his MacBook in the freezer during the process. That seemed to confirm the problem was down to thermal management. A new theory circulating this week suggested the problem could possibly be down to the power throttling of the voltage regulator module (VRM). However, Apple’s statement today appears to now clear this up.
Apple advertises the MacBook Pro as the most powerful version of its professional laptop ever, so it was important the company dealt with this issue with haste.
In its press release the company writes: “The new MacBook Pro is now faster and more powerful, with 8th-generation 6-core Intel Core processors on the 15-inch MacBook Pro for up to 70 percent faster performance and 8th-generation quad-core Intel Core processors on the 13-inch model for performance that’s up to twice as fast.”
Now the laptop has the chance to live up to the hype.
Have you experienced speed throttling issues with your new MacBook Pro? Share your stories with us @TrustedReviews on Twitter.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
