Master Your Mac

Chapter 6. Adjusting Energy and Display Settings

We know how it goes. Someone says “energy and display settings,” and your eyes glaze over. But as boring as this subject might seem, tailoring your Mac to your physical environment can save energy, boost productivity, and even protect your health.

It starts with modifying the default energy and display preferences built into OS X—the baseline operating settings you have to live with day in and day out. Then you’ll use a couple of third-party applications to further adjust these settings. For example, you’ll use an application called Caffeine to temporarily suspend the settings when you’re using your Mac to deliver a business presentation or watch a movie. And you’ll use another application called ...