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lancastor

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 25, 2011
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How can I check that my Mac Mini M1 is really sleeping/in standby.

I checked the fan on the back and the fan is running in standby. Is the a correct behavior?
 
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If you have Power Nap enabled. It may be performing background tasks. Which it'll do periodically and go back to sleep.
 
My M1 Mini seems like it sleeps because my external SSD (which is normally pretty hot) is cool to the touch but the front LED does not pulse like you think it should. Also, I have it connected to a Watt meter and it shows only a couple watts, so it is sleeping, but again the LED doesn't show that.
 
How can I check that my Apple M1 is really sleeping/in standby.

I checked the fan on the back and the fan is running in standby. Is the a correct behavior?

If it's a MBP, with the lid open touch (not press) to authenticate Touch ID. If it doesn't wake then it's deep sleep.

You're assuming the OP has a second computer.

Everyone has a phone which is a small computer. Or, tablet, $10 Raspberry Pi Zero W, etc.
 
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If you have Power Nap enabled. It may be performing background tasks. Which it'll do periodically and go back to sleep.
Power Nap doesn’t exist on M1 Macs. The M1 efficiency cores use so little power that those functions are integrated into the system.

 
Set Energy Saver to sleep after 'X' minutes, then even after you walk away (thinking is it on/off), it will go into sleep automatically.
 
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So I think I will do a complete new fresh re-install of macOS.

Why?
The M1 is an “Always on” processor. The fan will run if and when it needs to run.
My suggestion to you would be to trust the system to do what it has been designed to do.
 
Yes it will if the checkbox is on to wake from sleep for network access!
Yes, that's what I'm saying. Even if the computer is asleep, it may respond to a ping. Pinging the computer is not a useful way to determine if the computer is asleep.
 
I don't think my M1 mini actually sleeps. Not like my PC, which goes into S3 sleep and shuts off CPU, only retaining RAM state. I found this out because I noticed a program downloaded something over night. I checked its log and it downloaded something around 1am.

So it seems like it only goes into some kind of low power mode, shuts off monitor , USB peripherals, and the fan, but the CPU is awake

I have wake on LAN disabled. I did not ping it. I do not have any kind of crontab or automator script running.
 
me too i never put macmini on sleep mode. I bought it as a sort of desktop backup so I will use it as a desktop machine. I turn off the display off when I don't use it
 
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I have two ways to check:

1) Monitor it with a power meter showing power consumption when on, just after putting it to sleep and then after it has been sleeping for a few hours.

2) I have my Mac Studio set up as a NAS. When it is asleep, it takes about 19 seconds to access files. When it's not sleeping, then it returns data in a second or 2.
 
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