Save energy on your Mac
Your Mac is designed to be energy efficient right out of the box, using features like Compressed Memory and App Nap to stay fast and save power. However, there are several ways you can further optimize energy usage.
Put your Mac to sleep
When in sleep, your Mac is still turned on, but it consumes much less energy. And waking your Mac from sleep takes less time than starting it up.
Put your Mac to sleep right away: On your Mac, choose Apple menu
Set your Mac to go to sleep after a period of inactivity: Follow the instructions in Schedule your Mac notebook to turn on or off or Schedule your Mac desktop computer to turn on or off.
Get the most from your battery
If you have a Mac notebook computer, you can optimize battery life by modifying your computer’s energy use.
On your Mac, choose Apple menu , click Battery or Power Adapter, then do any of the following:
Open Battery preferences for me
To reduce energy usage to increase battery life, select “Low power mode.”
To set the computer or display to sleep at different times when you’re using the battery or connected to power, drag the “Turn display off after” slider.
To save energy, select “Put hard disks to sleep when possible.”
See Change Battery preferences on a Mac notebook and Change Power Adapter preferences on a Mac notebook.
Dim the display
Dim the display to the lowest comfortable level. For example, the display can be dimmer when you’re in a dark room than when you’re in bright sunlight.
To dim the display, press your keyboard’s brightness keys or use Displays preferences. See Change your Mac display’s brightness.
If you’re using a Mac notebook computer, you can also set your display to dim automatically when you’re using battery power. See Change Battery preferences on a Mac notebook.
Turn off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
Turn off Bluetooth and Wi-Fi if you don’t need them. They consume energy even when they aren’t used.
Turn off Bluetooth: On your Mac, choose Apple menu
.Open Bluetooth preferences for me
If Bluetooth is turned on, click Turn Bluetooth Off.
Turn off Wi-Fi: On your Mac, choose Apple menu
.Open Network preferences for me
Select Wi-Fi in the list on the left. If Wi-Fi is turned on, click Turn Wi-Fi Off.
Disconnect devices and close apps
Accessories: Disconnect any accessories that you aren’t using, such as external hard drives.
Connected external drives: If you use an external drive, such as an Apple USB SuperDrive, disconnect it from your Mac.
Apps: Quit apps that you aren’t using. Even an app you aren’t using may be working in the background and consuming energy.
Select other energy-saving options
In Battery or Energy Saver preferences, choose options that make it easier to save energy. For example, if you allow other computers to access the shared resources on your Mac—such as shared printers or Music playlists—while it’s in sleep you may be able to put your Mac to sleep more often.
On your Mac, choose Apple menu
If you’re using a Mac notebook computer: Click Battery
.If you’re using a Mac desktop computer: Click Energy Saver
.
For more information, see Set sleep and wake settings for your Mac.