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Apple Releases Firmware to Activate PowerNap on 2011 MacBook Airs

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Apr 12, 2001
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One of the new features found in OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion is PowerNap. PowerNap was introduced at WWDC 2012 and allows your Mac to continue to perform tasks such as receiving email and updating software even when it's sleeping.

Apple lists the full capabilities in this Knowledge Base document. Capabilities include getting new Mail, syncing Calendar, Contact and Reminder changes, and more. When plugged into power, your Mac can download software updates and make backups with Time Capsule.

Apple only supports PowerNap on 2011 MacBook Airs and beyond as well as the 2012 Retina MacBook Pro. The capability should move over to more of Apple's laptops as Apple makes a full transition to SSD. Built-in flash storage is listed as one of the requirements of the technology. Apple just released a firmware update that enables this functionality in the 2011 MacBook Airs, while support for the Retina MacBook Pro is said to be "coming soon".

Article Link: Apple Releases Firmware to Activate PowerNap on 2011 MacBook Airs
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2012/07/25/apple-releases-firmware-to-activate-powernap-on-2011-macbook-airs/
If you have a 2.5" SSD (Apple branded or not)...you can forget it.
 
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Is there a real reason for this or is it just BS like many of the features left off older iphones? I can tolerate it on a mobile device but if they start leaving key features off of my computer for no reason (because lets face it even a core 2 duo has enough power to do any of these features) my 2010 imac will be my last mac
 
MacRumors said:
Apple only supports PowerNap on 2011 MacBook Airs and beyond as well as the 2012 Retina MacBook Pro. The capability should move over to more of Apple's laptops as Apple makes a full transition to SSD. Built-in flash storage is listed as one of the requirements of the technology. Apple just released a firmware update that enables this functionality in the 2011 MacBook Airs.
Click to expand...

Is this a new requirement? I thought PowerNap only required flash storage and SSD, and initially didn't state 2011 Airs or newer only.
 
Can you go to the App Store to get these, or do you need to download them from the Knowledge Base article mentioned? (My computer's specs are here.)
 
CyberBob859 said:
Is this a new requirement? I thought PowerNap only required flash storage and SSD, and initially didn't state 2011 Airs or newer only.
Click to expand...
Flash storage is SSD. That like saying it requires a Hard disk, and HDD. Same thing.
 
MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012) - Coming soon

Just a tad bit odd how nothing is quiet smooth today when it comes to all the software updates.
 
atMac said:
Flash storage is SSD. That like saying it requires a Hard disk, and HDD. Same thing.
Click to expand...

Nope. SSDs can also be composed of other solid-state memory technologies other than NAND flash, like DRAM.
 
I have a MacBook pro mid 2009 with ssd installed as main drive. Would this till work? I haven't seen any options in system settings to turn the feature on. Just wondering. Not sure yet how useful this would be
 
Heston said:
I have a MacBook pro mid 2009 with ssd installed as main drive. Would this till work? I haven't seen any options in system settings to turn the feature on. Just wondering. Not sure yet how useful this would be
Click to expand...

No.
It's very disappointing that Power Nap only works on Macs with the blade-type SSDs.
 
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