Mini sleep issues solved with additional USB hardware?

[InuNacho]

My 2018 Mini has been unable to sleep since I got it early last year. I run Mojave and have an eGPU which caused something to render sleep completely impossible. Here is a list of combinations I used and its effects on the Mini.

Monitor 1 is powered by the eGPU. Monitor 2 is the combinations below.

eGPU -> Monitor - Black screen on boot = no screens at all
HDMI -> Monitor - Sleep with some boot crashes
USB C / Displayport -> Monitor - Cannot Sleep
Caldigit TS3+ / Displayport -> Monitor - Cannot Sleep
Dell WD15 / MiniDP - Displayport -> Monitor - Sleeps perfectly

Can someone possibly explain this behavior? I'm glad I finally found a decent workaround but I don't understand how this is.

 

[now i see it]

Sleep (in my experience) has never been a feature you can count on for every Mac and version of Mac OS. Sometimes it works perfectly on a certain Mac and often it doesn’t on others.

 

[InuNacho]

Sleep (in my experience) has never been a feature you can count on for every Mac and version of Mac OS. Sometimes it works perfectly on a certain Mac and often it doesn’t on others.

I guess you're right. This is the first time since my souped up PowerMac G4 that I have not been able to put it to sleep.

 

[Fishrrman]

The 2018 Mini uses about the same amount of power whether "sleeping" or "just idling".
The difference is so small as to be of no consequence.

I'd suggest that you stop worrying about whether it "sleeps" or not.
Instead, set your display to sleep while the Mini just "idles".
You can protect it with a password to wake up, if you like.

 

[weaztek]

I also have a 2018 Mini and eGPU. I had a big crash last week and have been running it sans eGPU. The display wakes quickly and overall runs a lot smoother (without the eGPU).

As a side note, I was unable to safe boot or repair boot with the eGPU plugged in. That one took me a few days to figure out, lol.

 

[InuNacho]

The 2018 Mini uses about the same amount of power whether "sleeping" or "just idling".
The difference is so small as to be of no consequence.

I'd suggest that you stop worrying about whether it "sleeps" or not.
Instead, set your display to sleep while the Mini just "idles".
You can protect it with a password to wake up, if you like.

I run an egpu so even if I just turn the screens off, the egpu still keeps pumping away.
There are also the instances where I wanna sleep it in the middle of a project but don't want to just waste power letting MacOS push pixels around a blank screen.

 

[now i see it]

Not too long ago, putting a Mac to sleep while mid project was a no no. Good way to get into trouble.
Sleep isn’t for work computers. It’s more suitable for home computers (email, browsing, nothing really matters)