When the display goes into screensaver mode, the CCFL backlights remain on, so NO energy is saved -- regardless of what screensaver image you select. A solid black 'blank' screen consumes as much energy as anything else; the lamps behind the screen are still on, but the LCD panel has "pulled down the shades."
When the display goes into sleep mode, the backlight is turned off -- thus saving power -- and the screensaver settings have no effect. Sleep mode and screensaver mode are mutually exclusive.
Screensaver is a vestige of CRT days. With LCDs, it has no inherent advantage over sleep (other than the pretty pictures); however, for privacy, the OS-X UI allows you to set password-protection on the screensaver -- but (AFAIK) it doesn't offer password-protection for sleep.
When the display goes into screensaver mode, the CCFL backlights remain on, so NO energy is saved -- regardless of what screensaver image you select. A solid black 'blank' screen consumes as much energy as anything else; the lamps behind the screen are still on, but the LCD panel has "pulled down the shades."
When the display goes into sleep mode, the backlight is turned off -- thus saving power -- and the screensaver settings have no effect. Sleep mode and screensaver mode are mutually exclusive.
Screensaver is a vestige of CRT days. With LCDs, it has no inherent advantage over sleep (other than the pretty pictures); however, for privacy, the OS-X UI allows you to set password-protection on the screensaver -- but (AFAIK) it doesn't offer password-protection for sleep.
When the screensaver activates, the chosen module is displayed on the screen with a changing image; optionally, a password is required to be entered before the screensaver can be turned off. Display sleep causes the monitor to go black until the computer is used again, and never requires a password to turn off.
Thanks for the information. So are you saying it's redundant to have both activate?
Is less power (i.e., electricity) used when the display is asleep, as opposed to the screen saver
activating?
Back in my 'Windows' days, I remember they had an option to use a screen saver, but
one of the options was a blank screen. It seems like Apple could have simplified this feature,
by simply offering a blank screen as a screen saver option.
