An awakened Mac goes back to sleep according to Energy Saver settings when it returns to an idle status. A Panther, Tiger, or Leopard system or Windows system with Bonjour installed can wake a Snow Leopard Mac. To other computers, the sleeping Mac’s shared services appear as regular Bonjour entries requiring no additional software. Snow Leopard’s improved speed in waking from sleep helps. When another computer on the network wants to use one of those Bonjour services, the base station sends a special signal over Ethernet or Wi-Fi to wake the computer in question, which then rouses itself and responds. Advertised Bonjour services includes file sharing, screen sharing, iTunes library sharing, and printer sharing among others. The base station essentially acts as a proxy for the slumbering Mac. This is Apple’s name for a new networking feature that lets a Snow Leopard Mac go to sleep while a networked base station continues to broadcast Bonjour messages about the services the sleeping computer offers.
Snow Leopard offers at least one solution to this problem: Wake on Demand. But that’s easier said than done if your Mac acts as a server for files, photos, music, or other resources.
To conserve power and reduce your electrical bill, you should shut down your computer or put it to sleep when not in use.
