Changing CPU frequency policies in OS X I have Core i5 processor with nominal 2.3 Ghz speed. But, according to Intel Power Gadget, most of the time the frequency is much lower. Even during intensive usage. It's 0.8-1.6 Ghz.
I noticed that some operations work slower than they could.

So I'm wondering, is there a way to change default CPU frequency policy? You know, on Windows there are 3 modes, on Linux there are also several options (ondemand, performance, conservative, powersave etc.)
Run the command top in the Terminal. This will tell you where all your CPU and/or memory is going in more detail than activity monitor (man top to learn more about it). My immediate assumption is that your CPU isn't maxing out because it has no reason to. The default power management by both Apple and Intel does its job very well; I would guess you get this slow tab switching when you have lots of applications open, or a few very large ones. 

If your Mac is taking time to compress and expand memory, it will run slower. If (heaven forbid) you have actually used more memory than you have physical RAM, your MacBook is dumping dynamic data to the hard drive. This will run SUPER slow, but use relatively few clock cycles.