Mac OS X 10.5.x (Leopard) Energy Saver

Introduction

The default power settings are a little annoying. Here is what I have found that works best.

Getting Started

Launch System Preferences from the Applications directory or via the main menu by clicking the Apple icon and selecting “System Preferences…”. Then click on the “Energy Saver” icon.

Power Adapter Settings

The following illustrates my custom settings where I force the machine to never sleep and keep the monitor alive for at least an hour. Handy for those long downloads or performing tasks that might take several hours to complete.

(click to view)

(click to view)

Battery Settings

For the battery settings, I ended up using the defaults. Specifically the “Better Battery Life” setting.

(click to view)

(click to view)

Screen Saver Settings

The screen saver as found via the “Desktop & Screen Saver” icon within System Preferences is never truly used in battery mode. However, it is still important important for the power adapter settings since the display will not turn off until after an hour has passed. I opted to set the screen saver to turn on after 10 minutes of inactivity with password protection enabled:

(click to view)

Caffeine

Finally, for those times when you want the computer to stay awake permanently with a simple click, check out Caffeine. This application and other useful information can be found on my Mac OS page.

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