Up close with Mountain Lion: Power Naphere
Source: This is a summary of an article that appeared in macworld here.
More than a few Mac users worry that OS X is becoming too much like iOS, thanks to the former gaining features obviously inspired by the latter.
But even the most anti-iOS Mac user has to admit that sometimes this is a good thing.
Under Mountain Lion (OS X 10.8), if you've got a compatible Mac laptop, you'll get many of the same benefits thanks to a new feature called Power Nap.
Currently only the Mid 2012 MacBook Pro with Retina Display and the Mid 2011 and Mid 2012 MacBook Air models.
Each of these models requires a SMC firmware update (Mid 2011 Air, Mid 2012 Air, Mid 2012 Pro Retina) to support Power Nap.
In the Battery tab is an option, disabled by default, to Enable Power Nap While On Battery Power.
Once you configure those two Power Nap settings, you don't have to do anything for Power Nap to do its job, and your laptop sleeps normally whenever you close the lid or use the Apple Menu's Sleep command.
Note that your Mac's USB, Thunderbolt, and FireWire buses provide power during Power Nap wakes, so if you've enabled battery-power Power Nap and you want to ensure your Mac uses as little battery charge as possible, you should disconnect external devices---except for your Time Machine drive, of course---before putting your Mac to sleep.
Updates your calendars with any changes you've made on other devices or any new invitations you've received (hourly).
Apple says that Power Nap supports VPN on demand, letting your Mac perform these updates even if your company requires you to connect through its VPN.
(I wasn't able to test this feature.)
However, this option is restricted to VPN connections that authenticate using a certificate; Power Nap won't automatically connect to a VPN that requires you to enter a password when connecting.
Power Nap checks for Mac App Store app updates.
Backs up using Time Machine if your Time Machine drive is connected (hourly until a successful backup has been completed).
Checks for---and downloads, but doesn't install---new updates to Apple software and OS X (once per day).
Checks for updates to Mac App Store-purchased software (once per week).
Clicking Details opens the Mac App Store and displays the Updates screen---with available updates already listed, rather than making you wait for an update check.
Given that Power Nap does its thing while your Mac is asleep, and flash-storage Macs were already very good about waking up quickly and syncing many types of data silently in the background, you may be wondering if Power Nap is actually doing anything.
If you've got software updates waiting, the aforementioned notification is the most-obvious confirmation.
If you don't use Time Machine, or if your Time Machine drive wasn't connected, another approach is to check your Mac's logs.
As you can see, the Mac woke up with graphics disabled, connected to WiFi, tried to back up using Time Machine, scheduled the next wake, and then went to sleep.
(Not shown for space reasons are log events for email checks and calendar updates, as well as a bunch of more-technical stuff.)
[Dan Frakes is a Macworld senior editor.]
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Concepts:
Mac, Mountain Lion, MacBook, app, Power Nap, updates, feature, time machine, wake, support, battery, sleep, Apple, connections, backup.
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