"OS X has better drivers than Linux on old Macbooks" - any truth in this?
Posted by tornado99_@reddit | linux | View on Reddit | 18 comments
Considering whether to Install Linux on a 2015 Macbook Pro (Intel Broadwell, Iris Graphics 6100).
Is there any truth in the idea that Apple's CPU and GPU drivers for that machine are any better than the latest 2025 Linux drivers? Did they add some "secret sauce" to make them run better?
What about battery life?
Does anyone have any good evidence for this e.g. Geekbench results, or perhaps browser benchmark results?
indvs3@reddit
The drivers will be largely the same, but apple undoubtedly has drivers that are optimised for the way cpu and gpu work on their own proprietary motherboards. Saying OS X has better drivers than linux for their motherboards is pretty much equivalent to saying the drivers from a particular manufacturer of gpu's are better than the default windows graphics drivers. We all know that's true, but we all know just as well that's not something to flex about, as that would be very disingenuous to say the least.
NeverMindToday@reddit
One element not mentioned much - whether the latest compatible OS is still supported and whether than matters.
There was also one issue I had with Macs (incl a 2015 Macbook Pro and an M1 Pro) that I don't know whether it was hardware or OS drivers - but you couldn't seem to run more than one monitor from any individual port. eg a Thunderbolt dock would only support one monitor, or you couldn't daisy chain display ports etc - these scenarios would work ok on a Thinkpad with Windows or Linux. Multiple external monitors on the Macbook required multiple cables/ports.
If that was just a driver limitation rather than a hardware one, then that is something Linux could do better than MacOS. If it was a hardware limitation, then not so much.
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FrebTheRat@reddit
Every linux install I've ever done on a mac has some significant hardware issue, most likely driver related. The worst was when there was a "phantom" cpu issue that would cause the cpu to ramp up for no reason and overheat.
PraetorRU@reddit
Apple used some proprietary chips in their MacBooks besides Intel CPU's, so yeah, there're problems with certain drivers, as enthusiasts had to reverse-engineer with partial success. So, better google if a certain model is actually usable with linux.
xrabbit@reddit
Of course. If you prefer efficiency you should go r/OCLP route
deekamus@reddit
duh
Vynlovanth@reddit
Apple controlled the fan curves and power output of the CPU and GPU pretty aggressively, especially later in the Intel years of Mac hardware as Intel wasn’t making progress on making their CPUs more power efficient. Apple doesn’t want their devices making a lot of noise unless that CPU is really hurting. I’d also expect battery life to be slightly better on macOS because of that.
In terms of performance I don’t think there would be a significant difference. You’d probably notice the fan kick on sooner and louder, maybe that would lead to the CPU boosting for longer.
Would be interesting to see actual numerical data from the same device. Definitely clean it up and redo the thermal paste before starting though to give it a fair chance.
R4TTY@reddit
Apple control the hardware and software, so yeah, they probably are better in macos.
TCB13sQuotes@reddit
Not only that but Apple also got drivers for very proprietary Broadcom and nvidia hardware and that nobody else has.
megayippie@reddit
Of course it's true. The company's entire idea is to be good on one set of hardware. And they are big on it. Software wise, I say they are falling far behind. Their systems are kind of bad since they switched to clang and then M1. At least for what matters to me: 3rd party.
vDebon@reddit
I have a debian on a mid-2014 macbookpro. Because of macOS sandboxing, Linux is way faster in day to day tasks (basic web browsing, reading documents, etc…). The h264 and audio drivers are ok. But for example, just last week end I wanted to read an h265 movie on my tv, and the video kept desynchronizing with the audio (i tried several players, all the same, so I suspect the driver). Same for the aspect ratio. Had to lower the tv resolution to have a decent framerate. So I ragequit and rebooted on macOS. And no issue whatsoever, full resolution, no audio/video sync issues. So if you want an advice, keep a dual boot just for cases like those
j0nquest@reddit
Does it matter? Install it if you need it. Install it if you want it. Live a little.
doeffgek@reddit
Definetly Yes.
But that's mainly because Apple purges older drivers in newer releases of macOS, making that version unsupported on older hardware. For the same reason installing macOS on a pc will be a challenge.
You can workaround that, but OEM driver support from Apple sucks.
stipo42@reddit
I mean of course it's true, the proprietary hardware will definitely be better supported by the proprietary software designed around it.
That said, you still might see better performance out of Linux, just some features may be missing or broken
Oerthling@reddit
Put a Linux live system on a USB Stick and just boot the Mac from that and see for yourself.
Mds03@reddit
Battery life will probably be better on OS X. Not sure about performance as in raw max compute possible
WanderingInAVan@reddit
Are these X86 MacBooks? If we were talking their CPUs prior to when they used the X86 chips then I could see it potentially. The M series chips are all proprietary and I don't think Arm puts out anything that could be easily used to make drivers, hence how difficult it has been getting a kernel running well on M.