Sleep mode and apps like "Caffeine"

[kristenp]

I was just wondering about sleep mode in OSX. When I'm at home, my macbook is usually plugged in to the power adapter. So, if I walk away for longer than 15 mins, the screen shuts off.

But this means the computer isn't actually in sleep mode, right? The only difference is the display is off, is this correct?

If so, then why is an app like caffeine required? or is it only useful for when the laptop is not plugged in? I'm confused because it's hard to tell whether the macbook is actually in sleep mode or not. If it's plugged in, I don't want it to go to sleep because I still want things like my skype to stay logged in and stuff like that.

Thank you

 

[Weaselboy]

The way you have is setup now it will not sleep when the screen blanks, because you have that "Prevent computer rom sleeping..." box checked.

There are some new in between sleep modes on the new Macs like yours. You can read about it here.

Caffeine is really more for when you want to temporarily override your sleep settings. If you don't want to do that, you don't need the app.

 

[kristenp]

Thank you. That clears things up for me