I have a 15" MBP (mid (2010) with an SSD. I bought the MAcWorl book "Total Mountain Lion Superguide", and it says to enable Power Nap on some older MBP require a firmware upgrade. It gives no clue WHAT firmware and how old a computer. I don't have the option to enable it so I'm assuming I need the upgrade. Anyone know what that might be?
Only MacBookAirs and Retina MacBookPros have the necessary hardware to utilize PowerNap. It requires an integrated flash-based SSD.
Hmm, aren't all SSDs Flash based? The book specifically say's "older laptops" so obviously pre-Retina.
The book is incorrect then. The only models that support Power Nap are certain models of MacBook Air and the new MacBook Pro with Retina Display. And some of those models required a firmware update, which would show up in Software Update if it were supported on your model.
Are you sure the book doesn't say that certain older MacBook Airs require the firmware update? Because that would be correct. But no MacBook Pro with a DVD supports Power Nap.
tom.giangreco wrote:
Hmm, aren't all SSDs Flash based? The book specifically say's "older laptops" so obviously pre-Retina.
Your SSD is flash-based, but it isn't integrated into the systemboard. It still requires a separate power supply (same as any standard SATA interface).
The flash memory in the Airs and Retina Pros is integrated into the system board and does not require power to operate, which is what allows it to work while the computer is otherwise in sleep mode.
You are probably right about them being incorrect, but here is an excerpt from the book.
"Under Mountain Lion, if you've got a Mac laptop with a solid-state drive (SSD, also known as flash storage), you get many of the same benefits. (Some older Mac laptops need a firmware update to gain this functionality.)"
Seems to be a lot of confusion on this point. I just wish I knew what firmware upgrade they referred to. I've been having other issues recently where the MBP won't successfully come out of sleep mode; just the spinning rainbow. Seems to only happen is Safari is open (or Firefox). Funny thing is, when I quit Safari and let it go to sleep, it won't come all the way up, and when I finally reboot (hard-reset) safari gets restored as though it was left on before the crash. I had hopes there was a firmware upgrade would silve that.
The Firmware update is the SMC 1.5 update and only applies to the earlier versions of supported MBA and some rMBPs (likely the ones sold prior to the Lion 10.7.4 update). Basically, it came up when a user went to Update Software, and then it only came up if it applied.
This is the applicable firmware update: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5394
that is very well explained. now i know why my MBP mid 2010 is not compatible with powernap inspite of having an SSD.
Firmware upgrade to use Power Nap on older MBP
