What does it mean, “Prevent your Mac from sleeping automatically when the display is off"?

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What does it mean, “Prevent your Mac from sleeping automatically when the display is off"?

I thought that computer "sleep" IS turning off the display. So how would the computer NOT be sleeping when the display is off? Sleep and display-off are the same thing, as far as I can tell. So I don't understand how it's even possible for the computer NOT to be sleeping when the display is off. And why would anyone want to “Prevent your Mac from sleeping automatically when the display is off? The whole thing doesn't make any sense. I've already read the relevant Apple Support pages and they don't answer this question. So I don't need a link to the Apple Support page, because I've already seen it, at least the ones that come up in a Google search. Thx.

iMac 27″, macOS 12.6

Posted on Oct 26, 2022 12:53 AM

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dialabrain

Level 10

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Oct 26, 2022 2:33 AM in response to Arandel

The short answer is "Sleep" is a low power state that suspends most all computer activity. Turning the display off is only that. An analogy is computer sleep is like human sleep. Preventing the Mac from sleeping when the display is off is just like closing your eyes. One does that when you want the computer to continue to run without having a static image on the screen for lengthy periods, which can cause image persistence.

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What does it mean, “Prevent your Mac from sleeping automatically when the display is off"?

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