[Macworld]

Post your comments for Up close with Mountain Lion: Power Nap here

[jdb8167]

I've been experimenting with Power Nap on a 2012 MacBook Air, Thunderbolt Display and Time Capsule. It seems very buggy. Remember this is all Apple equipment yet it appears that if I have my MBAir attached to the Thunderbolt display with the lid closed, I don't get any Time Machine backups.

At first I thought it was because I had FileVault on. But that doesn't appear to be the problem. I turned off FileVault and left the MBAir overnight and it still didn't backup to the Time Capsule. The next night I plugged the notebook in, left the lid open but didn't attach the Thunderbolt display. Then I got a backup to complete with Power Nap. So I made a minor file edit and attached the Thunderbolt display and left it to sleep again with the lid open and again, a backup happened.

I don't know what to conclude about this. Maybe it has to do with the notebook lid being open or maybe it is a combination of lid closed and Thunderbolt plugged in. Or maybe it is just flakey and doesn't always work overnight. I haven't been able to figure that out yet. The logs are interesting when it didn't do the backup. It looked like the notebook was going back to sleep before the Thunderbolt Gig ethernet finished connecting to the network. When I had the lid open, it looks like it did successfully connect to the TBolt ethernet but the logs are inconclusive.

[nokin]

When using my 17" MacBook Pro, I was surprised to see my new (mid 2012) MacBook Air listed as a "shared" computer in the Finder, even though it was upstairs "asleep." I tried connecting with the "Share Screen" option and was pleased to see it functioned. I don't think you mention this is your review.

Dave

[jrobelen]

Tell your proofreader the expression is "To wit". Yes, it matters.

[Dan Frakes]

jrobelen, on 01 August 2012 - 12:41 PM, said:

Tell your proofreader the expression is "To wit". Yes, it matters.

D'oh! I know that, too. Fixed.

[fds]

There just doesn't seem to be much point to this feature yet. The “How do I know if Power Nap is working?” is almost comical in showing how hard it is to notice any benefit, or merely a change, at all.

The real benefit of our iPhones and iPads being essentially always on is that they can provide audible and visible notifications when something does happen. Until you have to keep opening the lid on your Power Nap-enabled MacBook to see if it downloaded any new email or got any new messages, this is a pointless feature.

[Dan Frakes]

nokin, on 01 August 2012 - 12:30 PM, said:

When using my 17" MacBook Pro, I was surprised to see my new (mid 2012) MacBook Air listed as a "shared" computer in the Finder, even though it was upstairs "asleep." I tried connecting with the "Share Screen" option and was pleased to see it functioned. I don't think you mention this is your review.

This actually isn't a feature of Power Nap—it's been around for a couple years.

[Inkling]

Let's hope they eventually place this feature on desktops. They'll be running off AC, so battery drain isn't an issue, and it'd be handy to wake up in the morning and find all sorts of time-consuming tasks such as updates and backups have already been done. It'd also be great if Power Nap would have APIs for third-party software such as off-site backup.

[nokin]

Dan Frakes, on 01 August 2012 - 12:49 PM, said:

nokin, on 01 August 2012 - 12:30 PM, said:

When using my 17" MacBook Pro, I was surprised to see my new (mid 2012) MacBook Air listed as a "shared" computer in the Finder, even though it was upstairs "asleep." I tried connecting with the "Share Screen" option and was pleased to see it functioned. I don't think you mention this is your review.

This actually isn't a feature of Power Nap—it's been around for a couple years.

Really? You could access a sleeping laptop via screenshare before the Power Nap update?

I can't even see my two year old 17" MacBook from my desktop computer when the laptop is asleep. I don't know how you would do this. Was this a MacBook Air only feature that was enabled with Snow Leopard two years ago?

I guess I'm a little skeptical about your claim.

Dave

[Dan Frakes]

nokin, on 01 August 2012 - 03:24 PM, said:

Really? You could access a sleeping laptop via screenshare before the Power Nap update?

I can't even see my two year old 17" MacBook from my desktop computer when the laptop is asleep. I don't know how you would do this. Was this a MacBook Air only feature that was enabled with Snow Leopard two years ago?

I guess I'm a little skeptical about your claim.

Starting with Snow Leopard, recent Macs connected to a recent AirPort Extreme or Time Capsule have been able to advertise themselves on the local network even when asleep. (We covered the feature back in 2009.) Late 2008-and-newer Macs can be woken via Wi-Fi or Ethernet; earlier compatible Macs can be woken only via Ethernet.

[LelandHendrix]

nokin, on 01 August 2012 - 03:24 PM, said:

Dan Frakes, on 01 August 2012 - 12:49 PM, said:

nokin, on 01 August 2012 - 12:30 PM, said:

When using my 17" MacBook Pro, I was surprised to see my new (mid 2012) MacBook Air listed as a "shared" computer in the Finder, even though it was upstairs "asleep." I tried connecting with the "Share Screen" option and was pleased to see it functioned. I don't think you mention this is your review.

This actually isn't a feature of Power Nap—it's been around for a couple years.

Really? You could access a sleeping laptop via screenshare before the Power Nap update?

I can't even see my two year old 17" MacBook from my desktop computer when the laptop is asleep. I don't know how you would do this. Was this a MacBook Air only feature that was enabled with Snow Leopard two years ago?

I guess I'm a little skeptical about your claim.

Dave

My late-08 unibody MacBoom Pro, 2009 27" iMac, and 2010 Mini all wake from sleep for network access, and screen sharing. It might have to do with them being connected to a TimeCapsule, but it also works on other routers if you send them a "magic packet" for WAKE-ON-LAN

This post has been edited by LelandHendrix: 01 August 2012 - 08:31 PM

[jdb8167]

fds, on 01 August 2012 - 12:48 PM, said:

There just doesn't seem to be much point to this feature yet. The “How do I know if Power Nap is working?” is almost comical in showing how hard it is to notice any benefit, or merely a change, at all.

The real benefit of our iPhones and iPads being essentially always on is that they can provide audible and visible notifications when something does happen. Until you have to keep opening the lid on your Power Nap-enabled MacBook to see if it downloaded any new email or got any new messages, this is a pointless feature.

While I don't get the value of updating calendar, email etc when sleeping, there is one feature that I want. The Time Machine backup while sleeping is very valuable. I don't use my notebook much at home during the week but I use it all day at work. My Time Capsule is at home and I don't want to wait for the weekend to get reliable backups. I can go several days with no backups if I forget to plug-in my MacBook Air and leave it awake until the Time Machine backup is complete. With Power Nap I can just plug it in when I get home and not worry because it will wake and do a backup.

This is all in theory unfortunately. As far as I can tell, Power Nap and backup to a Time Capsule doesn't work reliably enough to be useful. Waiting on 10.8.1.

[jdb8167]

To follow up on Power Nap and Time Capsule backups. They don't occur if the MacBook Air's screen is closed. I can be plugged in with the notebook lid closed and no backups happen. If I open the lid and let the computer sleep, I get Time Capsule backups without any trouble. Until this is fixed, it makes Power Nap pretty useless for my use. I generally keep my Air closed in a small dock connected to my Thunderbolt display overnight. It would be great if I could be sure that Time Machine backups would occur in that configuration but right now that doesn't appear to ever happen.

This post has been edited by jdb8167: 03 August 2012 - 10:07 AM

[dAttrache]

I've been able to "see" iTunes on my Power Napping MacBook Air. The shared library appears on my other MacBook, and my iPhone tries to sync.