Sleep Or Shut Down?

chris fitzgeraldchris fitzgerald
Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Sorry if this is a repeat topic, but I didn't find it anywhere else. I'm absolutely IN LOVE with my 20" iMac, and use it all the time when I'm home. In spite of what the iMac haters may say, it's the perfect machine for some people, and I'm one of those people. My question is whether it's better to put the machine to sleep when it won't be used for a few hours (like overnight), or to go ahead and shut it down. I've been letting it sleep most of the time since I got it, but thought I'd ask in case that might be damaging in some way.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 39
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    Nope. In fact, there's the counter-argument that keeping the components warmed slightly prevents thermal fatigue.
  • Reply 2 of 39
    sonofsylvanussonofsylvanus Posts: 579member
    Put it to sleep.



    Beddy bye-byes.



    Macs don't need to be shut down for weeks (/months/years?) if you use them every day, or other day or so.



    If I weren't gonna use mine for a week, I'd shut it down. But it wouldn't hurt it to let it snooze...
  • Reply 3 of 39
    torifiletorifile Posts: 4,024member
    Sleep. I'd never shutdown a desktop. I only shutdown my powerbook if I'm going to be away from a power outlet for a few days. Otherwise I just close the lid and never think twice about it.
  • Reply 4 of 39
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    In fact, about the only time I ever shutdown/reboot my laptop is for Software Updates that *require* it.



    I think the current longest up time for me is about four months. For a laptop that gets moved from network to network, that's pretty amazing.
  • Reply 5 of 39
    torifiletorifile Posts: 4,024member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Kickaha

    In fact, about the only time I ever shutdown/reboot my laptop is for Software Updates that *require* it.



    I think the current longest up time for me is about four months. For a laptop that gets moved from network to network, that's pretty amazing.



    My fiancee has NEVER shutdown or rebooted her iBook since she got it in November. She said she doesn't even know how since she's never had to do it. I've rebooted it twice for software updates in that time. Her current uptime is like 40 days.
  • Reply 6 of 39
    messiahtoshmessiahtosh Posts: 1,754member
    I tend to restart every so often, but usually I am up for around 14 days then I shut it down over night on the 15th, just out of habbit I guess.
  • Reply 7 of 39
    sonofsylvanussonofsylvanus Posts: 579member
    <off topic>torifle you did you choose to stop posting under pensieve after 666 posts?
  • Reply 8 of 39
    ipodandimacipodandimac Posts: 3,273member
    hmmm... i shut off everey night... i think i'll start putting my emac to sleep instead (you have to do something cause the fans are so loud!) *thinks about future g5*
  • Reply 9 of 39
    torifiletorifile Posts: 4,024member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by SonOfSylvanus

    <off topic>torifle you did you choose to stop posting under pensieve after 666 posts?



    Yeah. But I hear that pensieve's been knocked down to 664 so he may be resurrected some day....
  • Reply 10 of 39
    shetlineshetline Posts: 4,695member
    I do neither... I leave my computer running all of the time, only allowing my monitor to power down after the computer has been idle for half an hour.



    I'd like it if there were more sleep options, or levels of sleeping. Ideally, I'd like my computer to shut down one of its two processors and drop to a low clock speed when idle, but still be awake enough to perform periodic self-maintenance, run cron tasks, serve up files, share printers, etc. It would be great if my computer could drop power consumption to the point that all fans could be shut off while idling. If demands rose, the computer could always rev back up again, so long as it didn?t wake up fully and turn my monitor on in the middle of the night.



    Sleep as it stands now is too deep of a sleep for my tastes. I use sleep for my PB, but I don?t need the PB to do all that I expect from my tower.



    One feature I?d really like to have: automatic muting of the sound output when the computer is idle. As it stands now, I have to remember to mute my computer when I go to bed, or I?ll here e-mail arriving in the middle of the night because of Mail?s audible alarms ? a feature I like when I?m awake.



    I have my father leave his iMac switched on all of the time too, since this greatly simplifies helping him manage his computer. I have 24/7 access via Timbuktu this way, without having to call my father just to tell him to turn his computer on for me.
  • Reply 11 of 39
    thuh freakthuh freak Posts: 2,664member
    i'm in the 'always on unless a major upgrade' camp. but one thing you should consider is your 'lectric bill. perchance in my apt complex they don't charge for e-lectricity, so i have no idea what it amounts to, but it might be something to consider.
  • Reply 12 of 39
    wrong robotwrong robot Posts: 3,907member
    From what I remember from a discussion about this YEARS ago, perhaps from the Pre-blackout days of AI(which would explain why Durrl couldn't find it) I don't know if this has changed, but when you boot up your machine it saps about the same amount of power that it would take to run it for 12 hours straight, if not more() something to do with all the components taking power at once, whereas when it's running it distributes power where needed and is generally far more efficient.



    I rarely every shut down or restart my Powerbook, I only shut it down when I go on flights and stuff(and even then I forget sometimes)



    Another benefit of sleep is that you get to start up way quicker than if you are starting cold, OS X, for all it's boons is notorious for having a slow boot-up time, and it's nice to supercede that.
  • Reply 13 of 39
    ghost_user_nameghost_user_name Posts: 22,667member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Kickaha

    In fact, about the only time I ever shutdown/reboot my laptop is for Software Updates that *require* it.



    I'm in the same camp as Kickaha and so many others. I only shut down to reboot after Software Updates or to reboot when I switch video cards (for TV output).



    Though, I think the bright, pulsing sleep light on my G4 kinda freaked out my roomate when he woke up in the middle of the night the first time.
  • Reply 14 of 39
    wrong robotwrong robot Posts: 3,907member
    It's amazing how such a small feature can be so noticeable and cool.



    I was hanging out at my friends house, he was building a new PC with another friend, and I had my powerbook there, they were both pretty hard core PC guys, and when I closed my book for a while they were both REALLY impressed with they way that the computer 'breathed' one of them said "whoa! your computer is alive!"







    as cool as that is, I can't say that I'm entirely happy with it all the time, I like to sleep in a dark room, and with my Pbook in the corner that pulsing light gets REALLY bright.
  • Reply 15 of 39
    ps5533ps5533 Posts: 476member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Chris Fitzgerald

    Sorry if this is a repeat topic, but I didn't find it anywhere else. I'm absolutely IN LOVE with my 20" iMac, and use it all the time when I'm home. In spite of what the iMac haters may say, it's the perfect machine for some people, and I'm one of those people. My question is whether it's better to put the machine to sleep when it won't be used for a few hours (like overnight), or to go ahead and shut it down. I've been letting it sleep most of the time since I got it, but thought I'd ask in case that might be damaging in some way.



    keep it on...unless you have to count pennies to pay the electric bill.
  • Reply 16 of 39
    hyperb0lehyperb0le Posts: 142member
    I sleep it every night, but if I am going to be away for several days, I shut it down.
  • Reply 17 of 39
    progmacprogmac Posts: 1,850member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Wrong Robot

    I

    as cool as that is, I can't say that I'm entirely happy with it all the time, I like to sleep in a dark room, and with my Pbook in the corner that pulsing light gets REALLY bright.



    i agree. the pulsing light is WAY too bright.



    Oh, and keeping it on but asleep uses virtually no power
  • Reply 18 of 39
    ast3r3xast3r3x Posts: 5,012member
    It's REALLY bright...blinding if you look directly into it. I normally leave my computer alone but have the display shut off. I don't shut down my computer, and only restart it when software updates need it...or the occasional kernel panic, which I have seem to get after the latest security update \



    I sleep it when I need to save batter, this 4200RPM HD takes too long to boot.
  • Reply 19 of 39
    merovingianmerovingian Posts: 436member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by progmac

    i agree. the pulsing light is WAY too bright.



    Put some Blue-Tak on it, and take it off in the morning.



    Quote:

    Originally posted by progmac

    Oh, and keeping it on but asleep uses virtually no power



    How much power? Are there specs written anywhere? m.
  • Reply 20 of 39
    dmband0026dmband0026 Posts: 2,345member
    I read a while ago that sleep uses approximately 2% of the power that the computer uses when sitting idle (everything running, but no apps running, no user active on it). So sleep really does use almost no power. I always sleep. I do restart about once weekly because of my sucky iSub and its tendency to not work for some reason.
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