Apple SoC Energy Efficiency Overview

This table summarizes estimated idle and peak SoC (chip-only) power draw values for Apple Silicon chips across all generations and variants. Values are based on both official Apple data and independent third-party measurements.

SoC	Idle (W)	Peak (W)	Source
Intel Core i7-7920HQ (Kaby Lake)	~3	~40	Windows Laptop Testing
Intel Core i9-9980HK (Coffee Lake)	~3	~85	Windows Laptop Testing
M1	~0.2	~22	AnandTech
M1 Pro	~1	~34	NotebookCheck
M1 Max	~0.2	~92	AnandTech
M1 Ultra	~13	~215	Apple
M2	~7	~50	Apple
M2 Pro	~7	~100	Apple
M2 Max	~9	~145	Apple
M2 Ultra	~10	~295	Apple
M3	~2.8	~20	NotebookCheck
M3 Pro (11c)	~5.8	~24	NotebookCheck
M3 Pro (12c)	~5.8	~27	NotebookCheck
M3 Max (16c)	~5.2	~116	NotebookCheck
M3 Ultra	~8	~200	TweakTown
M4	~4.5	~35	NotebookCheck
M4 Pro	~4.5	~80	NotebookCheck
M4 Max	~6.5	~95	NotebookCheck

General Notes

Values refer to chip package power draw, excluding full system overhead (e.g. display, SSD, fans).
Idle power is when CPU/GPU are mostly gated or suspended. Peak is under full CPU+GPU load.
Ultra-class chips (M1/M2/M3 Ultra) often include figures from Apple that reflect Mac Studio or similar devices, including system margin.
Third-party testing used tools like external wattmeters or telemetry counters on macOS/Linux.

Intel Notes

Unfortunately, detailed CPU package power measurements specifically for the Intel Core i9-9980HK used in Apple’s 2019 16-inch MacBook Pro aren’t publicly available. To fill this gap, we’ve substituted comparable data from Windows laptops equipped with the exact same processor. Notably, Intel’s high-end mobile Core i9 typically idles at only a few watts (often below 5 W) in these PC-based configurations, indicating that the MacBook’s CPU idle consumption is likely similarly minimal.

Peak power draws for the i9-9980HK CPU package were recorded between 93 W sustained and brief spikes up to 107 W on Windows-based test systems such as the Intel NUC 9 Extreme. However, Apple’s 16-inch MacBook Pro is limited by its 96 W power adapter, which constrains total system power—including the dedicated GPU and display—to around 100 W under sustained load. Therefore, we estimate the CPU package on the MacBook Pro peaks briefly around 80–90 W before settling to significantly lower sustained levels due to thermal and power limits.

In summary, while exact Mac-specific measurements remain unpublished, it’s reasonable to extrapolate from available Windows laptop data. Based on this comparison, our best estimates place the 16-inch MacBook Pro’s i9-9980HK idle CPU package consumption around 2–5 W and transient peak values around 80–90 W, quickly throttling down due to Apple’s strict power management policies.

In practice, the Core i7-7920HQ’s idle CPU package draw is also only a few watts. NotebookCheck measured the entire 2017 15″ MacBook Pro system drawing about 3.4 W at the lowest idle (display off) and roughly 14–18 W with the screen on at typical brightness. Since this includes the display, SSD, and other components, the CPU alone likely consumes only 2–5 W when idle. Under heavy multithreaded workloads, total system draw climbs to around 71–88 W, indicating the i7-7920HQ package itself pulls approximately 30–45 W at peak—consistent with its 45 W TDP and corroborated by BootCamp/`powermetrics` measurements.