Published Apr 4, 2023, 7:15 AM EDT
Olasubomi Gbenjo is a freelance writer and tech enthusiast working at MakeUseOf to enlighten readers one clear, concise, and compelling article at a time. She's enormously curious and enjoys finding solutions to problems. When she's not writing or learning more about how technology continually shapes the world around us, you'll find her adding to her items cart or watching The Office.
Sign in to your MakeUseOf account
If you own a Mac, you can configure its sleep and wake settings so that it goes to sleep after a period of activity or wakes for network access when others access its shared services.
You can lower your Mac's energy consumption by managing its sleep and wake settings. Whether you own a MacBook or a desktop Mac, we'll walk you through the procedure below.
Set Your Mac to Sleep After a Period of Inactivity
You could shut your Mac down when you're done with it, but this isn't always ideal. It's better to put your Mac to sleep instead of shutting it down, so you can quickly resume tasks and perform updates.
Don't want to worry about manually putting your Mac to sleep each time you have to leave it for a bit? You can make your Mac go to sleep automatically after a set amount of time. Here's how.
- Click on the Apple menu and choose System Settings from the dropdown.
- Now, select Lock Screen from the left pane.
- In the Lock Screen menu, look for the Turn display off on battery when inactive or Turn display off on power adapter when inactive setting and choose a duration.
There you go. You no longer have to worry about someone coming along and accessing the contents of your Mac while you're away.
To make your Mac go to sleep manually again, you can simply head back to the same menu and set the option to Never.
Configure Your Mac's Sleep and Wake Settings
Besides setting your Mac to go to sleep automatically, you can also configure your Mac's sleep and wake settings to do a few things. However, the instructions for that varies depending on whether you use a MacBook or a desktop Mac, but we've covered the steps for both below.
Here's how to configure sleep and wake settings on a MacBook.
- Head over to the Apple menu and click System Settings from the dropdown.
- Now, select Battery from the sidebar.
- Now, scroll down on the right pane and click on Options at the bottom.
- In the popup menu, you can make your desired changes. Set the Put hard disks to sleep when possible setting to Always, Only on Power Adapter, or Never.
- Likewise, you can change the setting for Wake for network access to whatever you desire.
You can also enable Power Nap on your Mac to allow it to check for software updates while asleep, but unfortunately, this feature is limited to Intel-based Macs. So, check if your Mac uses Intel or Apple silicon before proceeding.
If you use a desktop Mac, here's what you need to do to configure its sleep and wake settings:
- Go to the Apple menu, click System Settings, and then select Energy Saver in the sidebar.
- Now, make your desired changes to the settings Put hard disks to sleep when possible and Wake for network access.
As you can see, the instructions are fairly identical except for the fact that you'll head over to the Energy Saver section on a desktop Mac due to the lack of a battery.
Allow Your Mac to Go to Sleep After a Period of Inactivity
Leaving your Mac's display on all the time uses more energy. So, instead of doing this, why not set your Mac to sleep after a period of inactivity?
Not only does it improve the privacy of your computer, but it also helps conserve your MacBook's battery. And even if it's a desktop Mac, you can do this to make sure it consumes little to no power when you're away.