When Beta drops,
all of the people that want synthesis try this experiment.
Set probe number to 200 (or whatever value you personally want)
Go and scan planets, once you hit that 200 probes shot (you might need a pen and paper to record this), regardless of your materials in your magic bag of holding go and land on a planet and mine/gather 3 Iron and 3 carbon, jettison them and count to 20 and add 50 probes to your count, repeat until you are back up to your 200, then take off and continue scanning.
Do that for 10 systems and report back how it went.
You should also do the an experiment. Map 10 planets without thinking about probes and then map 10 planet forcing yourself to match the efficiency target. If you overshoot the target leave the planet, don't map it anymore. Then tell me which mode you'll find more challenging, knowing that to map a gas giant you can't shoot forever. My guess is that after 10 successful mapping in limited mode you will feel like a pro, while shooting infinite will get you bored soon.
About your sueggestion I can already report it that is fine for me. Everytime I finish an exploration session I look for a planet. I land and I investigate with the SRV the nearby to be sure it's a safe place (just for RPG) then I go back to my ship and I quit the game. I could use the same time to prospect some common material. I have absolutely no issue with that.