System management controller

The system management controller ( SMC ) is a chip on the motherboard of Intel- based Apple computers.

This chip takes on the following tasks, among others:

• Power management of the computer
• Display backlight
• Turning hard drives on and off
• Hibernate and wake the computer from this
• I / O and power supply of external devices ( AirPort , USB , FireWire ) before and after hibernation
• Charging the battery
• Control of the trackpad
• Identification as original Apple hardware.

The firmware of the SMC can be updated later by the user.

There are similar systems for older Apple computers: the System Management Unit (SMU) and its predecessor, the Power Management Unit (PMU).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b Reset} the System Management Controller (SMC) on the Mac. Apple Support , August 10, 2017, accessed October 21, 2017 . 
2. ↑ Mac OS X Snow Leopard in Virtualbox: Guide February 7, 2011, accessed February 24, 2013 . 
3. ↑ Information on SMC firmware updates. Apple Support, February 21, 2015, accessed October 21, 2017 .