I'm a Windows convert - energy profiles?

[the block]

I've been a Windows user since I retired my original G3 iMac (and Performa 575 before that), and decided it was time to get a Mac again. I got a 15" 2016 tMBP from the Apple store and have been enjoying exploring it and getting it configured the way I like over the last week.

One feature that seems to be missing is the ability to set energy profiles? IE if it's plugged in, don't sleep, don't turn off the screen, 80% screen brightness, 80% keyboard backlight. If it's on battery, it's ok to sleep, turn the screen off, and have screen brightness & keyboard backlight automatically switch over to a low level (among other things like disabling bluetooth, wifi, etc etc)

So far I've found the app "NoSleep" which seems to take care of disabling sleep while plugged in, but the built-in system preferences "Energy Saver" leaves a lot to be desired. It pretty much lets you configure when to turn the screen off.

I'd rather not go around trying out unknown software on this brand new computer, so I figured I'd check here first to see if anyone has some suggestions. Thanks!

 

[deadworlds]

Apple used to have the settings you speak of in the energy savings preferences. As you can see Apple has removed some of the common settings like , sleep computer. Your only option it seems is to use the third party apps. It is my understanding that Apple has optimized the settings so you don't have to worry about it.

 

[Westbrook0]

Apple used to have the settings you speak of in the energy savings preferences. As you can see Apple has removed some of the common settings like , sleep computer. Your only option it seems is to use the third party apps. It is my understanding that Apple has optimized the settings so you don't have to worry about it.

On that note, would you recommend keeping auto brightness on? Especially with the battery life concerns on the new MBPs?

 

[xraydoc]

I've been a Windows user since I retired my original G3 iMac (and Performa 575 before that), and decided it was time to get a Mac again. I got a 15" 2016 tMBP from the Apple store and have been enjoying exploring it and getting it configured the way I like over the last week.

One feature that seems to be missing is the ability to set energy profiles? IE if it's plugged in, don't sleep, don't turn off the screen, 80% screen brightness, 80% keyboard backlight. If it's on battery, it's ok to sleep, turn the screen off, and have screen brightness & keyboard backlight automatically switch over to a low level (among other things like disabling bluetooth, wifi, etc etc)

So far I've found the app "NoSleep" which seems to take care of disabling sleep while plugged in, but the built-in system preferences "Energy Saver" leaves a lot to be desired. It pretty much lets you configure when to turn the screen off.

I'd rather not go around trying out unknown software on this brand new computer, so I figured I'd check here first to see if anyone has some suggestions. Thanks!

In the System Preferences, go to Energy Saver. There, you can set some settings for screen/system sleep on battery and on Power Adapter (i.e., plugged in to AC). Unfortunately, there's no option to save different keyboard backlight settings or specific screen brightness, though there is a setting to slightly dim brightness when on battery.

 

[fs454]

You'll notice OS X will be miles better than Windows 8 or 10 in regards to battery/power management, with little to no user interaction. Auto brightness does a decent job, and you can always override it with the Touch Bar. The only thing I like to keep around is a little toolbar app called gfxcardstatus that lets me know if any currently running apps are triggering the dedicated GPU since this happens automatically and can draw more power unintentionally (with, say, Photoshop open in the background or something). It also allows you to force the iGPU or dGPU in situations where you'd like to stop it from changing automatically. I think this is the biggest power draw consideration you can monitor yourself - the OS will do a great job on its own otherwise.

On Boot Camp/Windows 10, my Late 2013 and my 2016 both return terrible battery performance even after tweaks. Doesn't bother me as I'm usually only over there when I'm plugged in and gaming.

 

[the block]

You'll notice OS X will be miles better than Windows 8 or 10 in regards to battery/power management, with little to no user interaction. Auto brightness does a decent job, and you can always override it with the Touch Bar. The only thing I like to keep around is a little toolbar app called gfxcardstatus that lets me know if any currently running apps are triggering the dedicated GPU since this happens automatically and can draw more power unintentionally (with, say, Photoshop open in the background or something). It also allows you to force the iGPU or dGPU in situations where you'd like to stop it from changing automatically. I think this is the biggest power draw consideration you can monitor yourself - the OS will do a great job on its own otherwise.

On Boot Camp/Windows 10, my Late 2013 and my 2016 both return terrible battery performance even after tweaks. Doesn't bother me as I'm usually only over there when I'm plugged in and gaming.

Thanks.. I'll check that one out. I did notice my mbp was hot after sitting idle for a while. I checked the activity monitor and found my WindowServer process was running at "127%"+ CPU usage. I couldn't get it to stop so I rebooted, and it went back to normal. I've since googled what the process does has something to do with animations and basically drawing everything on the screen. Has anyone else run into the process running wild?