Your Terminal Is Burning Battery Like It's Mining Bitcoin
7 hours ago
- #terminal-apps
- #macos-tools
- #energy-efficiency
- The author experienced unexpectedly high battery drain on a MacBook Air M3 due to the Ghostty terminal app, which consumed significantly more energy than other applications.
- Modern GPU-accelerated terminals like Ghostty, Alacritty, and Kitty use substantial power for text rendering, unlike older terminals or CPU-based alternatives, with no practical visual benefit.
- Terminal.app, the default macOS terminal, is recommended as an efficient solution due to its CPU rendering, proper App Nap support, and low energy consumption.
- iTerm2 offers a workaround by allowing users to disable GPU rendering in a custom profile, which can be switched manually or automatically based on power source.
- Ghostty lacks an option to disable GPU rendering, making it unsuitable for battery-powered work, though some config tweaks like disabling animations may slightly help.
- The author critiques the irony of modern computing using advanced hardware for simple tasks like text display, arguing that such 'progress' may be misguided when it compromises efficiency.