Why Do Other Devices Put Your Laptop to Sleep
Like smartphones and other battery-powered devices, laptops go to sleep to conserve power. But you may notice that your car crashes into a bag in the middle of work for no apparent reason other than you bringing another device too close. No, the battery didn’t die; it’s much easier.
There are several ways to manually put your laptop into sleep mode. On a Mac, you can click the Apple logo in the top right corner and choose Sleep. On most laptops—Mac or PC—you can press the power button to do the same (macOS can bring up a lock screen for a minute before going to sleep). Of course, the most commonly used method is to simply close the laptop lid. When the device is in clamshell mode, it automatically enters sleep mode.
But therein lies the problem. Your laptop uses magnets to keep it closed securely, but those magnets also tell it when the lid is closed. When the top of the lid is close enough to the base of your laptop, it will start hibernation. This is why many laptops can be put to sleep before the lid is completely closed. These magnets are often strong enough to hold AirPods in place (just make sure they’re not there when you slam the lid shut).
However, your laptop does not know the difference between magnets in the lid and magnets in other devices. The iPad, for example, contains magnets for attaching smart devices. When you bring your iPad’s magnets close enough to the base of your laptop, it thinks your iPad is actually a lid and goes to sleep.
You can see the issue in action from this Reddit post . The OP was confused as to why their laptop would shut down when their iPad got too close. The answer, as we now know, are magnets ( how do they work )?
How to change how often your laptop goes to sleep
It’s possible that your laptop is still going to sleep without a magnetic device. In this case, I would recommend diving into your computer’s power settings to see if you have a sleep timer set. My Mac will go to sleep after 30 minutes of inactivity, but you can set this timer to just one minute. While it won’t affect when you’re actively typing, you might be surprised how often you don’t press a key or move your cursor. If your sleep timer is short enough, this could be the culprit.
On a Mac, this setting is under System Preferences > Lock Screen (macOS Ventura) or System Preferences > Battery or Power Saver . On Windows, choose Start > Settings > System > Power & Battery > Display & Sleep (Windows 11) or Start > Settings > System > Power & Sleep (Windows 10).