How to enable/disable Turbo Boost on Mac

When the computer is idling or doing something similar that doesn't use a lot of power, macOS turns off Turbo Boost.

This self-regulation is generally OK in most cases, but not always. If your computer is getting older and you want to use the battery longer, you can manually control Turbo Boost to use less power.

Find out if your Mac has a Turbo Boost feature

Before you continue, you should verify that your Mac actually supports the Turbo Boost feature:

Step 1. Select the Apple logo in your Mac's menu bar and click About This Mac.

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Step 2. In the Overview tab, you will find the full model name of your Mac. Copy this information to the clipboard by selecting it and pressing Command + C.

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Step 3. Open the search engine of your choice (eg, Google or DuckDuckGo) and paste this information into the search bar. Add the phrase 'technical specs' at the end and press Enter.

Step 4. Clicking on the result will take you to the support.apple.com website.

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Step 5. On the Apple support website, check the Processor section. If your Mac supports Turbo Boost, it will be mentioned here.

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If the spec doesn't mention Turbo Boost, your Mac may not support the feature. If you have a new Mac with an M1 chip, it won't support Turbo Boost.

How to enable or disable Turbo Boost

You can manually turn Turbo Boost on and off using the Turbo Boost Switcher application. Turbo Switcher is available as a free or paid app. This guide will use the free version. Download the free version here.

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After you have installed Turbo Boost Switcher, launch the application. Click the icon that Turbo Boost has automatically added to your Mac's menu bar.

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If Turbo Boost is already enabled, you will see a Disable Turbo Boost message. Conversely, if Turbo Boost is disabled, you will see the Enable Turbo Boost message. You can use these settings to manually turn Turbo Boost on and off.

The first time you try to manually switch Turbo Boost, macOS will ask for the admin username and password.

macOS may also block Turbo Boost Switcher from running. If you get a Security & Privacy message, follow the on-screen instructions to allow Turbo Boost Switcher to run normally.

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Alternatively, you can manually unblock Turbo Boost Switcher by navigating to Apple > System Preferences… > Security & Privacy. Here, you will see a message prompting you to unblock Turbo Boost Switcher.

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While you can now manually control Turbo Boost, keep in mind that this is not something you need to do all the time. This feature usually works fine without any manual intervention.

If you mainly want to turn off Turbo Boost because the battery drains too quickly, keep in mind that this is not the only culprit. For example, try force quitting apps you don't use to see if this improves your battery life, then turn off Turbo Boost if quitting apps doesn't make a difference. See: Simple ways to speed up your Mac for more details.

Marvin Fry

Update 29 December 2021