App to start/stop apps for battery conservation?

[gianthobbit]

I really love my Air but it does not get anywhere nears its advertised 7 hour battery life. Part of this is due to my having the brightness cranked but the other is I got a ton of apps running in the background.

I keep most of the dock apps under control and close them when not in use but I have 7-10 other apps that run in the background (most in the menu bar). I love these apps and they make my mac even better but it would be nice to hit a toggle and have the non-essentials close. Then when I dock back up re-toggle it so those ones open up again.

Does such an app exist? I am guessing this could be done with applescript but I don't have the experience...

Thanks!

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Do these applications have such a high CPU usage?

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Have a look at Activity Monitor (Applications / Utilities /) and select All Processes and sort by CPU to see what the culprit may be.

image below uses sorting by CPU as an example

Further reading:

Mac OS X: Reading system memory usage in Activity Monitor
Making The Most of Activity Monitor
What Is Activity Monitor (or How to Take Your Mac's Pulse)​

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Maybe this can help: http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/35293/app-tamer

 

[GGJstudios]

I really love my Air but it does not get anywhere nears its advertised 7 hour battery life. Part of this is due to my having the brightness cranked but the other is I got a ton of apps running in the background.

I keep most of the dock apps under control and close them when not in use but I have 7-10 other apps that run in the background (most in the menu bar). I love these apps and they make my mac even better but it would be nice to hit a toggle and have the non-essentials close. Then when I dock back up re-toggle it so those ones open up again.

Does such an app exist? I am guessing this could be done with applescript but I don't have the experience...

Thanks!

It's really not how many apps you have open, but what system resources are consumed by the apps, that impacts battery life. Closing some apps would have little or no effect, while closing others could have profound impact. As simsaladimbamba recommended, use Activity Monitor to see what resources are being consumed by various apps. Also read the BATTERY LIFE FROM A CHARGE section of the following link. This should answer most, if not all, of your battery questions:

Apple Notebook Battery FAQ​