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Sleep mode is a low power state in which a Macintosh computer powers down the display and suspends drive activity. It is somewhat like Shut Down, except that the contents of memory are preserved so the computer can be ready more quickly when awoken from sleep.

Description[]

Sleep mode does continue using some battery power for RAM. It is possible, on laptops, to put a computer to sleep for a long time and lose all remaining battery charge.

To wake a Mac up, press a key or move the mouse. If a laptop has slept and needs waking, open its case and, if needed, press a key.

On Windows laptops, "hibernation" mode does not utilize any power, but time is expended to write and then re-read memory contents from the drive upon waking the computer each time. MacBooks call this standby mode and use a faster process called safe sleep.[1]

History[]

Sleep was an option from the very first Macintosh Portable, and remained in the laptops-only realm until the 1995 introduction of the PCI-based Power Macintosh computers. Today, all Macs can sleep normally.

Sleep versus restart[]

Restarting a Mac (notably an iBook or PowerBook) is only needed in the following circumstances:

References[]

  1. How to Safe Sleep (Hibernate) Your Mac by Andrew Escobar, OS X Wiki. 2005-11-15.

External links[]

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