Screen savers that don't max the fan?

[twynne]

I know the Arabesque screen saver is well known for causing the Air's fans to run at max, and I also find that Flurry is doing the same. As all of the inbuilt screen savers seem to do at least *some* level of graphical processing, presumably using any of them will cause a spike in utilisation.

Has anyone found one that does NOT hit the processor? Or is there a way to just make the screen go blank/black? As nice as the standard savers are, I'd rather not listen to the fans run for ages following each time it kicks in!

Thanks,

Tom

[reh]

Set your screen saver to never activate. Then set your display to go to sleep after however many minutes you want. Black screen, no fans!

[twynne]

Thanks, I did a bit of digging on versiontracker as I wanted (ideally) to

-work on demand
-put the display to sleep
-observe my 'lock on wake' settings

I found two options for anyone interested:

1) Sleep & Lock (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=405234)

Effectively just an applescript that calls a program to sleep the display, then locks immediately.

2) BlackenedPixels (http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/31918)

A screensaver that claims to sleep the display (and therefore naturally observes your 'lock' settings). There is some discussion as to whether this actually sleeps the display on all Macs, but on mine it seems to work.

Cheers,

Tom

[clayj]

It's been my experience that Flurry does not push your CPU and cause the fans to run.

But yeah, just sleeping the display is probably the solution you want. No fans and it'll actually extend the working life of your MBA's screen.

[twynne]

It's been my experience that Flurry does not push your CPU and cause the fans to run.

But yeah, just sleeping the display is probably the solution you want. No fans and it'll actually extend the working life of your MBA's screen.

I thought the same initially, but lately even Flurry seems to be pushing my fans. I'm also having some issues with Parallels, so it might not be Flurry at fault... but as you say, it saves energy/screen anyway.

As a side benefit, the 'blank' screen attracts less attention in the office which makes my Air (slightly) less likely to go missing. :D (Must admit I feel slightly nervous every time I walk away from my desk having left it there - sad eh?!)

[krye]

I have no used a screensaver in years. LCDs are less prone to "burning' than CRTs and really are no longer applicable to flat panels and laptops. I much rather prefer to just set the machine to sleep the display. That way, I am saving power and preserving the display by letting it cool off a bit.

[twynne]

I have no used a screensaver in years. LCDs are less prone to "burning' than CRTs and really are no longer applicable to flat panels and laptops. I much rather prefer to just set the machine to sleep the display. That way, I am saving power and preserving the display by letting it cool off a bit.

Well apparently that's what both options above are doing. I quite like the screen savers, but I can see the value in not using one.

[twynne]

Incidentally there is one problem with just using Display Sleep for me (otherwise I'd have just set a Hot Corner to do that). Display Sleep doesn't lock the machine. So if I activate Display Sleep and walk away, my machine remains accessible.