Linux Mint: How to Configure Power Management Options
Managing your computer’s power is generally a good idea. Especially for laptop users, power management means you can reduce battery waste, giving you more useful uptime on the go. For both desktop and laptop users, reduced energy consumption means you’ll have to pay less on your electricity bill. You might not feel like it’s a big deal for work computers left in offices because you’re not paying for the energy, but reducing energy waste anywhere helps reduce the amount of energy that needs to be produced by burning fossil fuels. fuel.
To configure power management options in Linux Mint, press the Super key, type “power management” and press Enter.
Tip: The “Super” key is the name many Linux distributions use to refer to the Windows key or the Apple “Command” key, avoiding any risk of trademark issues.
Press the Super key, type “Power Management” and press Enter. The first power option labeled “Turn off screen when idle for a period” allows you to configure when you want your monitor to turn off. A monitor’s backlight is one of the big demands on a computer’s power, so it can help save power when the computer has been left untouched. This setting defaults to thirty minutes, but you can change it to five, ten, fifteen, or forty-five minutes, or one, two, or three hours. You can also disable the feature entirely if you need the screen to stay on even when the system is not in use.
The second power option, labeled “Suspend when inactive for,” is very similar, but instead of turning off the monitor, it suspends the computer, saving even more power. This option is disabled by default.
The last option is a rather convenient setting that allows you to configure what happens when you press the power button on the computer. By default, Linux Mint will ask you what you want to do, but you can also set it to lock, suspend, shut down your computer, or do nothing if you prefer.
Configure a timer for the computer to turn off the screen and pause itself if it has been left idle.
Regardless of the situation, there is at least one benefit to reducing energy consumption where possible. Realistically, modern computer monitors can turn on in seconds, and SSD computers don’t take much longer to boot; so configuring your screen to automatically turn off after a short period of inactivity and to automatically suspend your computer when you leave it on for a reasonable amount of time really won’t bother you much.