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OS X Energy Saver Unintiutive?
Authored by: rsnyder on Jan 04, '03 01:17:01PM
This thread points to general problem I have with the Energy Saver PreferancePane as implemented in OS X (Don't get me wrong--I am glad to have it back after loosing for so long in the early OS X releases).

The most counter intuitive element--and most dangerous--is that when you select one of Apple's preset options (Highest Performance, DVD Play Back, Longest Battery Life, etc.) this change locked in for BOTH the battery and power adaptor modes. The older energy saver just implemented the change to the selected mode--not both.

For example when personalizing my powerbook for the first time, I would go to the Energy Saver panel, select "Power Adaptor" and then select the "Highest Performance" option. Next I would select "Battery" and choose "Longest Battery Life." Quitting out of System Preferences, I would expect that when I was on the charger I would get best performance, and if I unplugged, Energy Saver would toggle to longest battery life.

However, if you look closely at the Energy Saver panel, when you select one of the Apple Presets, the text at the bottom of the panel says (with no bolding or other fan fare):

These settings are optimized for [insert setting name] whether the computer is plugged in or not.

Note the final clause in the sentence--the place of least emphasis. How many of us have missed this subtle, but important notice only to wonder why our systems are not runnig as well as expected on the charger or our batteries are not lasting as long as expected, though we thought we selected for the battery saver option when on the battery?

Worse, if you select Automatic, it does toggle, but not between best performance/longest batter, but between some other level of setting for each.

Is this just me, or does this less than the usual Apple level of usability?

FYI: You can copy one of the Apple presets by selecting it, going to the mode (batter or charger) that you want, then selecting Custom. The settings will stay the same, but if you go the alternate mode and try to do the same thing to copy a different setting for that mode, you will find that the mode that had been custom is now changed to the one you tried to implement on the alternate mode--just plane weird to me.


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