Retina MacBook Pro Gets Power Nap Update

Posted on July 27, 2012 by

Apple released an SMC update enabling Power Nap support for the MacBook Pro with Retina display. Power Nap is an awesome new feature in OS X Mountain Lion that lets your Mac stay up to date while it sleeps. Power Nap requires a Mac notebook with SSD like the MacBook Air (Mid 2011 and 2012) and MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012).

More information about Power Nap:

When your compatible Mac goes to sleep in Mountain Lion, Power Nap still gets things done silently

  • Mail. Receive new messages.
  • Contacts. Your Contacts update with any changes you may have made on another device.
  • Calendar. Receive new invitations and calendar updates.
  • Reminders. Reminders updates with any changes you may have made on another device.
  • Notes. Notes updates with any changes you may have made on another device.
  • Documents in your iCloud account. iCloud pushes any edits you made to a document to your Mac notebook.
  • Photo Stream. Your Photo Stream updates with new photos from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.
  • Mac App Store updates. Your Mac notebook can download updates from the Mac App Store.
  • Time Machine backup. Your Mac notebook can back up while it sleeps.
  • Find My Mac. Locate a lost Mac notebook even when it’s sleeping.
  • VPN on demand. Corporate email updates securely.
  • Configuration profile. Macs in managed environments can receive configuration profile updates.

Power Nap does more when your Mac is plugged in to an AC outlet

When your portable Mac is connected to a power source, it also downloads software updates, makes backups with Time Machine, performs Spotlight indexing, and can continue Mac App Store downloads.  It also updates Help Center.

Silence

When Power Nap is doing its job, the system sounds are silent and no lights or fans come on.  When your Mac wakes up, it’s good to go.