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Does the infrared consume battery power when not in use?
- Thread starter Blu101
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I didn't even know Macs had Infared...I would think with it not being used most of the time it would find some way of going into a low-power state or turning itself off, or something like that.
It's probably more likely that it doesn't use that much battery power to start with - I don't think it's something you really need to worry about.
It's probably more likely that it doesn't use that much battery power to start with - I don't think it's something you really need to worry about.
Its that tiny slit/slot next to the pulsating light that turns on when your mbp is asleep.
I turned it off just because I didn't want some little punk playing games on me when I'm out and about, since it says it works with any IR remote. I figured it might save some battery as a bonus, but wanted to find out for sure.
But I was watching a couple of movies last night and the screen is big enough at a distance, so I don't have to keep it on my lap. In this case, a remote may come in handy. What I'm wondering now is if it's worth me turning it off and on when I need it, or just leave it on full time. If it's no biggie on the battery, I'd rather leave it on for convenience.
I turned it off just because I didn't want some little punk playing games on me when I'm out and about, since it says it works with any IR remote. I figured it might save some battery as a bonus, but wanted to find out for sure.
But I was watching a couple of movies last night and the screen is big enough at a distance, so I don't have to keep it on my lap. In this case, a remote may come in handy. What I'm wondering now is if it's worth me turning it off and on when I need it, or just leave it on full time. If it's no biggie on the battery, I'd rather leave it on for convenience.
I'm not sure if you can turn it "off" per se, but there's an option somewhere in preferences that says something along the lines of "...allow the IR to work with any remote...", it's a checkbox, so if you uncheck it it might turn the power off on the sensor/circuitry, don't know how it works though.
It's easy enough to test if you have an Apple remote on hand: Put the computer to sleep and see if the remote will wake it--if yes, then it probably consumes a tiny amount of power. If not, then the IR hardware must be asleep.
I don't have one on hand to test myself. On the topic of pranks, I'm not sure that an Apple remote will actually do anything unless it's been paired with that Mac.
Funny aside on playing tricks with remotes: In the way old days Apple used to use the same remote codes as Sony. We had a Sony TV, and you could use its remote to mess with the volume of our Power Mac 6500... which of course at one point I did to mess with my brother, who wasn't aware of the ability.
I don't have one on hand to test myself. On the topic of pranks, I'm not sure that an Apple remote will actually do anything unless it's been paired with that Mac.
Funny aside on playing tricks with remotes: In the way old days Apple used to use the same remote codes as Sony. We had a Sony TV, and you could use its remote to mess with the volume of our Power Mac 6500... which of course at one point I did to mess with my brother, who wasn't aware of the ability.
It is purely a receiver, drawing a ridiculously minimal amount of power. For comparison, I used to have a Hewlett Packard calculator that had an IR transceiver (transmit and receive) and it ran for weeks on a set of triple-A batteries. (And I used the IR a lot, to transfer info to and from other students with an HP, to my small HP thermal printer, etc.)
Well, this won't show if it consumes power when the mbp is being used, and it might turn it off during sleep, but I like where your head's at. When it's in sleep mode, it barely uses battery as is, no worries there.
I probably should've clarified what I meant by "when not in use", my bad. What I meant was when the IR is not in use (with a remote), not the whole mbp.
Me and my friends used to have a lot of fun with remotes and other people's tvs and vcrs/dvd players back in the day. Ah the memories
I forgot you need a code to program an IR remote. I'm sure there's nobody running around with an apple programmed remote in their pocket at the remote chance of bumping into someone with a mac lol so now it's just me wondering about the battery.
That's what I figure too. I'll most likely turn it back on and grab a remote for movie watching, maybe even music for volume/change songs, etc.
Cool.
Any Apple remote (or the few out there designed to work with Mac's over IR) will control any Apple computer, but you can lock your computer to only work with your remote. IIRC, just bring the remote close to the IR sensor, and hold down the menu and right arrow buttons for about 5 seconds, until you see a symbol pop up on the screen that looks like a remote and a lock. That way, no other remotes will be able to control your computer. Of course, it's even more effective to turn off IR, but that would prevent you from using a remote yourself. Only you can decide if that matters to you.
jW
jW
IR... I thought that was a given in this conversation.
And now that I understand what you were asking, the answer is as stated--it is, by necessity, powered up as long as the computer is on, but the power used is so vanishingly small it honestly isn't going to make any difference off or on--it's probably less power than the power light. Any menu bar extra is probably going to use more power while the computer is on.