mac mini M1won't sleep Sequoia 15.1.1

Yes, turn off the Sleep Settings and then use the same settings I have as shown in the screenshot I provided and then test. Then you can tweak it from there.

BTW, do you have any of the following third party apps installed on your Mac?

       •      Antivirus Apps

       •      Cleaning Apps

       •      Security Apps

       •      VPN Apps

       •      Maintenance Apps

I let my Mac on 24/7/365 and never use sleep. I simply enable Lock Screen which will allow my display to sleep to prevent burn in. The Apple Silicon macs draw so little power when idle it really doesn't matter leaving them on. There are so many things in a home drawing so much much more power that the M1 Mac doesn't even create a blip in my electric usage when sitting idle.

In addition, doing so, allows me to run backups and any other maintenance while I am sound asleep at night instead of needing time during the day to fuss with it.

However, I do shut everything down occasionally when I need to go around my setup cleaning up the dust that eventually accumulates on everything.

Most experienced users on these forums NEVER use sleep because it causes problems. Instead what we do is:

1. System Settings
2. Click "Lock Screen" in the sidebar
3. Set "Turn Display when inactive" to the desired amount of time.

Of course in order for this to work correctly, you MUST turn off Sleep.

My settings are set for I've shown below. In over 20 years of use, I have NEVER had an issue.

Sleep is unnecessary on later Macs and should be disabled. Shut for long absences/idle overnights i.e and for regular operation, use the settings exactly as shown below:

Also, do not manual-sleep for brief absences, use instead the Lock Screen settings to switch the display off on timer:

So is the claim that sleep is unnecessary just an opinion or is it Apple policy?

I have been warned that searching throws up anything you want to "prove" so I don't think that would be a good idea.

When I'm not using the computer it's easy enough to hit Option-Command-Eject.

The only occasions I use auto-sleep are when I might leave the Mac to do some lengthy process and I am not around so I set it to auto-sleep afterwards.

Search inside this community - you'll get enough to come on board. Apple takes no position on Sleep, just as it doesn't on external boots. I don't hit anything at all when not using the computer - works just fine. If that doesn't work for you, use Control-Command-Q: Immediately lock your screen.

I'm having the same issue. While everyone else bickers instead of finding a solution, are you using Parallels by chance? I had an issue with Presentation Mode on Parallels Toolbox hiding my desktop icons, and then I just noticed it has "Do not switch to sleep mode" toggled on as well.

I've disabled this in hopes it will put my Mac to sleep and hope it helps you as well.

I'm always interested in adding to my meagre store of knowledge so could you explain what problems are caused by sleep and show me where Apple states that sleep is unnecessary on newer Macs.

Ball’s in your court - why do you Sleep? It’s totally unnecessary. As for problems caused by Sleep and solved by disabling - use Search. Literally tons.

Electrical consumption is no concern to me.

I'm just curious to know exactly what is going on during sleep as opposed to turning off the monitor/locking the screen.