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Apple patches 2018 MacBook Pro to address throttled performance and overheating

If you're the owner of a shiny new 2018 MacBook Pro then the latest macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 Supplemental Update is a patch you need to install.

Written by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, Senior Contributing Editor July 24, 2018 at 11:49 a.m. PT

Apple has released a patch for the newly-released 2018 MacBook Pro to address the poor performance that resulted from the CPU being throttled as a result of overheating.

Testing carried out by new owners indicated that Apple's new laptop suffered from serious performance throttling under load as a result of overheating.

Must read: Everything you need to know about buying Apple's 2018 MacBook Pro

Apple has confirmed that a thermal management issue was to blame and released a patch to address the bug.

"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 under heavy thermal loads on the new MacBook Pro," an Apple spokesperson told ZDNet's sister site CNET.

"A bug fix is included in today's macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 Supplemental Update and is recommended."

The update can be downloaded here or via the macOS updater. The update is 1.3GB in size and applies to all 2018 MacBook Pro models.

YouTuber Dave Lee posted avideo showing the scale of the performance issue affecting his Core i9-equipped 15-inch 2018 MacBook Pro.

Lee carried out a rendering test using Adobe Premiere, pitting the Core i9 2018 MacBook Pro against an Aero 15X laptop powered by a Core i7 chip and a MacBook Pro he purchased last year with a Core i7 chip.

The 2018 MacBook Pro took 40 minutes to render the video, while the older Core i7 MacBook took only 35 minutes.

The Windows-powered Aero 15X rendered the video in a little over 7 minutes.

Lee also put the 2018 MacBook Pro in the freezer to run the same render, and with the additional cooling found that it could complete the task in 27 minutes.