Apple appears to be taking the reins off its MacBooks with an upcoming feature that amplifies performance.
9to5Mac found code in the latest macOS Catalina 10.15.3 beta build that references a "Pro Mode" feature that can be flipped on and off. When turned on, apps will run faster but at the expense of battery life and fan noise.
Windows 10 users, especially those with gaming laptops, will be familiar with how this works. In normal use, a MacBook is continuously balancing itself to optimize for performance, endurance and heat, among other things. We're guessing that when Pro Mode is turned on, raw performance takes priority so the laptop's CPU turbo boosts to accommodate heavier workloads.
This injection of performance is a nice option to have, but it won't be for everyone. If Pro Mode acts anything like the Windows equivalent, then turning it on could hurt battery life and force your MacBook to crank its fans into overdrive to prevent thermal throttling.
Just as a runner can't maintain a dead sprint, Pro Mode only stays on temporarily -- long enough for the user to complete their work. As 9to5Mac notes, Pro Mode supposedly shuts off automatically a day after it's enabled.
We don't know if or when the feature will arrive but the code reportedly suggests that it will come to the 16-inch MacBook Pro (as if it wasn't powerful enough already). Also, MacRumors received an anonymous tip claiming Pro Mode would be an option on the Mac Pro.
If Pro Mode launches with Catalina 10.15.3 then we'll be sure to test it out and let you know how much extra performance you can squeeze out of your MacBook.
