- #Mac os x alternative to app tamer update
- #Mac os x alternative to app tamer pro
- #Mac os x alternative to app tamer windows
while reading a web page), GPU utilisation was essentially 0%. It’s worth noting that while displaying a static image (i.e. The Calendar scrolling task doesn’t have any translucent UI to trigger while scrolling, so unsurprisingly there is negligible difference in GPU utilisation. Scrolling through a thread in mail was especially taxing with translucency on, resulting in a noticeable frame rate drop.
Right off the bat we can see that in almost every scenario looked at, GPU utilisation was considerably higher with translucency turned on. This is also far from a scientific test, so take these results with a pinch of salt. I’ll try to measure GPU power, although that’s also quite variable too. I will then measure GPU utilisation with the iStat Menus utility which also shows framerate, although framerate is highly variable so you’ll just have to take my word for it that it’s 50-60FPS. The test will consist of tasks with translucency on and off.
#Mac os x alternative to app tamer pro
To evaluate the performance cost of translucency effects, I’ll be using my early 2015 13” Retina Macbook Pro (i7, 16GB, 512GB) with display scaling set to 1440×900 (which I believe is what most people would be comfortable with, 1280×800 is not enough). Mavericks made huge improvements to power efficiency in OSX, it’s a shame to waste that on fancy translucent effects that don’t serve a useful function and at times can look horrible. El Capitan may have solved the performance problem, but I’m sure the system is using more power to run these effects, and the user will have to pay a battery life penalty. Then there’s the power cost of fancy translucent effects. Being able to see a translucent blur below the menu tells me nothing extra about what’s going on. I know that a menu is “on top” of a window because it is covering it, and maybe it’s casting a shadow too. Depending on your background, text on the translucent menu bar can be almost illegible and menu’s require you to look at them for a fraction of a second longer to make sure you’re clicking the right option. Worse still, translucency can make certain UI look worse the menu bar being a prime example. Yes, translucent side bars and window chrome that shows the content below as you scroll looks cool, but it doesn’t give you any more information about what your UI is doing. Transparency in my opinion adds very little to the user experience in OSX (and to some extent iOS). So that’s the performance issue fixed, but I’m not happy yet. To my surprise, even with transparency on, both Macs managed to maintain a smooth 50-60FPS while navigating the UI (mostly).
#Mac os x alternative to app tamer update
The El Capitan update to OSX brings numerous refinements and improvements to OSX, including much better UI performance, so I decided to turn transparency back on to see whether my Macs could handle it (a 2013 Macbook Air and 2015 13” Macbook Pro). Turning off transparency effects in Yosemite resulted in a drastic improvement in UI performance and general system responsiveness especially on HiDPI displays. It seemed like all the improvements to battery life and performance made in Mavericks was to offset the bloated mess that Yosemite turned out to be, and that didn’t sit well with me.
#Mac os x alternative to app tamer windows
Battery life was significantly shorter and switching between spaces and windows was sluggish. I remember upgrading to Yosemite last year and immediately realising my Mac’s performance deteriorate. MacBook fans tend to sound like a “whoosh” rather than a “whine”. I suspect that Apple is intentionally spinning the two fans at different speeds to smooth out the sound signature and to prevent the high pitched noise so common on other laptops. This may be useful if you absolutely need low noise, for example if you’re recording audio during CPU intensive tasks.Īt high temperatures and low fan speeds, the CPU/SoC and GPU will throttle down which keeps them within safe operating temperatures, but other components such as the battery will likely degrade faster, just something to keep in mind.Īn interesting tidbit is that all modern MacBooks with two fans tend to have very different max RPM values for each fan, and both fans never seem to run at the same speed when ramping up. You could even set the fan curve to be less aggressive than the default, for example, by setting a constant RPM. Setting the custom fan curve is as simple as selecting a temperature sensor to key off, then setting max and minimum temperature. This is particularly true for Intel Macs which can get much warmer during “normal” use unlike their Apple Silicon counterparts.įan control applications like Macs Fan Control of TG Pro allow you to set custom fan curves for your Mac. MacBooks tend to run their fans conservatively, opting to prioritise low noise at the expense of higher surface temperatures.
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