Hibernate on a Mac

All Apple computers and laptops have a so-called sleep mode. That’s an energy-saving feature. The devices remain on in sleep mode, but consume much less power. Waking a device from sleep is much faster than starting it up. But sometimes you don’t want your Mac to go to sleep. For example, because you are downloading a large file or because you are backing up your vacation photos to iCloud.

Your Mac will automatically go to sleep after about ten minutes. This period can be adjusted or even switched off completely. Do this like this:

• Click the Apple logo in the top left menu.
• click on System Preferences.
• click on Energy mode.
• Drag the slider under ‘Turn off display after:’ to the left or right to set the time after which you want to go to sleep. Turn off hibernation completely? Drag the slider all the way to the right (to “Never”).

Waking a device from sleep is very easy and can be done in the following ways:

• Press the power button once.
• Press a key.
• Click with the mouse or trackpad.
• If you have a MacBook (Apple’s laptop): open the display.

It is also possible to activate hibernation mode yourself. This can be done in the following ways:

• Press the power button once.
• In the menu at the top left, click the Apple logo and then slumber.
• If you have a MacBook (Apple’s laptop): close the display.