Turing off an iMac Screen?

[TigerPRO]

I have a 17" plat panel iMac. The trouble is, I'd like to turn the LCD off without having to put the computer to sleep. Are there any programs for doing this? I have it set it to automatically turn the display off in 10 minutes. But sometimes I'm leaving, and I'd just like to power it down right away. I know on PowerBooks once you turn the brightness all the way down, the last notch turns the screen "off". But on iMacs, the last notch is just really dim, but not off (unfortunately).

[jtown]

I don't think there's a way without using 3rd party software (which is something I try to avoid when dealing with cosmetic issues). It's not like the display uses a huge amount of energy so I'd say just let it be. It'll shut off in 10 minutes (or whatever you have the display shutoff set for) whether you're there or not. :)

If you're worried about security, you can set up a hot corner for the screen saver and set it to "use my user account password". Just run the mouse to that corner and the screen saver will kick in. That won't make the display shut off any sooner but at least it will be secure.

[TigerPRO]

Originally posted by jtown
I don't think there's a way without using 3rd party software (which is something I try to avoid when dealing with cosmetic issues). It's not like the display uses a huge amount of energy so I'd say just let it be. It'll shut off in 10 minutes (or whatever you have the display shutoff set for) whether you're there or not. :)

If you're worried about security, you can set up a hot corner for the screen saver and set it to "use my user account password". Just run the mouse to that corner and the screen saver will kick in. That won't make the display shut off any sooner but at least it will be secure.

I guess I'm not concerned about the energy. Because I could actually care less about that (and the environment). What I'm worried about is my iMac screen. I just had it replaced after one year of use. I'm convinced it's because I had it on too much.

[tdhurst]

ON too much? You REALLY think that extra 8 minutes is going to matter?

[punter]

what about putting it to sleep? Just press the power button and it's gone. Touch a keyboard button and it's back. Instantly!

Of course this solution is no good if you want the computer to continue to do work while you're away.:rolleyes:

[~Shard~]

Originally posted by TigerPRO
I guess I'm not concerned about the energy. Because I could actually care less about that (and the environment). What I'm worried about is my iMac screen. I just had it replaced after one year of use. I'm convinced it's because I had it on too much.

An extra 8-10 minutes is not going to make a big difference, so I wouldn't worry about it. Those LCDs do not consume a lot of power, so if your iMac screen needed repairs after a year, I highly doubt it was because it "burned itself out" or something like that. I wouldn't be that worried about it.

Oh, and as for your first comment - you could care less about the environment? And are only worried about your precious little iMac screen? Nice one.... :rolleyes:

[7on]

What I did was set the screen to go off after 15 minutes and put the keychain menu extra in the menu bar. So whenever I live, I click on that and then click on "Lock Screen". You'll need a blank screen saver though. I found one on version tracker.

[flyfish29]

Originally posted by TigerPRO
I guess I'm not concerned about the energy. Because I could actually care less about that (and the environment). What I'm worried about is my iMac screen.


One word: SAD!!:(

[TigerPRO]

Originally posted by ~Shard~
Oh, and as for your first comment - you could care less about the environment? And are only worried about your precious little iMac screen? Yup. The environment is self healing, unfortunately, mac are not able to do that yet. I mean, who here would seriously put the environment ahead of there own Mac? We are Apple users here I think.

[rainman::|:|]

the environment is not self-healing, at least in terms of what we do to it. you're mistaken.

and whether you're convinced of it or not, leaving the display on isn't really going to affect much. I have LCDs that are on 24/7, for years, with no problems. And these are cheap little LCDs that are nothing compared to the quality Apple uses. Don't worry about it, let the screen shut off on it's own, or sleep the machine. Probably you got a faulty display last time, which is not uncommon...

paul

[TigerPRO]

Originally posted by flyfish29
One word: SAD!!:(

Don't you love your Mac? Or do you even have one?

[TigerPRO]

Originally posted by paulwhannel
the environment is not self-healing, at least in terms of what we do to it. you're mistaken.

and whether you're convinced of it or not, leaving the display on isn't really going to affect much. I have LCDs that are on 24/7, for years, with no problems. And these are cheap little LCDs that are nothing compared to the quality Apple uses. Don't worry about it, let the screen shut off on it's own, or sleep the machine. Probably you got a faulty display last time, which is not uncommon...

paul Ok, I guess I'll take that advice. I have AppleCare on my computer anyway.

As for your comment about the environment, I would like to rebuke your over-generalized apprehension. There is a thing called "rain" that God designed to clean the air. We don't need to help Him. Does that mean I think we should rip the catalytic converters out of every automobile? No. Does that mean I think I should worry about consuming less power running my Apple computer? NO! A little known fact about air pollution is that it's actually been declining since the 1970s, not steadily increasing as some would have you think.

Then there's these confused individuals that think the earth's ozone layer is getting a hole in it, and that the earth is slowly warming do to pollution.

[amnesiac1984]

Originally posted by TigerPRO
Ok, I guess I'll take that advice. I have AppleCare on my computer anyway.

As for your comment about the environment, I would like to rebuke your over-generalized apprehension. There is a thing called "rain" that God designed to clean the air. We don't need to help Him. Does that mean I think we should rip the catalytic converters out of every automobile? No. Does that mean I think I should worry about consuming less power running my Apple computer? NO! A little known fact about air pollution is that it's actually been declining since the 1970s, not steadily increasing as some would have you think.

Then there's these confused individuals that think the earth's ozone layer is getting a hole in it, and that the earth is slowly warming do to pollution.

Air Pollution is not the problem, the problem is resources of fossilized fuel and the o-zone effect.

But GOd might fix that, believe that and we'll see what its like in 50 years when Hell is literally on Earth and everythings flooded.

[TigerPRO]

Originally posted by amnesiac1984
Air Pollution is not the problem, the problem is resources of fossilized fuel and the o-zone effect.

But GOd might fix that, believe that and we'll see what its like in 50 years when Hell is literally on Earth and everythings flooded. What's the connection between the o-zone effect (what's that by the way?), fossilized fuel, and the earth flooding?

[thehuncamunca]

fossil fuels are burned
ozone gets depleted
temperature rises
ice caps melt
gigantic flood as ice caps melt

[TigerPRO]

Originally posted by thehuncamunca
fossil fuels are burned
ozone gets depleted
temperature rises
ice caps melt
gigantic flood as ice caps melt I see. Now you don't actually believe this, right? Your just saying it?

[mactastic]

Why don't you just turn your screen brightness all the way down?

[MictXP]

Originally posted by TigerPRO
A little known fact

I'm not going to enter this debate. I've seen it (and been involved in it) too many times elsewhere. I will say, though, that you should cite, or at least reference, your sources. It increases your validity. That goes for both sides.

"My time in academia taught me I could use anyone else's idea as long as I reference it." -- Hard

[amnesiac1984]

Originally posted by TigerPRO
I see. Now you don't actually believe this, right? Your just saying it?

Yeah, or we could be plunged into an Ice Age instead. Maybe it isn't due to our polluting of the earth and maybe its a part of the earth's natural cycle. (We are overdue for an ice age some believe).

I don't actually believe it all entirely but it is something i take into consideration as I have not really heard many convincing counter arguments. (if any at all)

[Counterfit]

Originally posted by amnesiac1984
(We are overdue for an ice age some believe). I would love to have a mini-ice age about now. No glaciers, just more snow so I can finally get a damn day off :rolleyes:

[flyfish29]

Originally posted by TigerPRO
Don't you love your Mac? Or do you even have one?

I have always had macs...five to be exact! As far as the love for the Mac, I could be no more in love with mine, but you can live without a mac (not as well, but indeed live) but you CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT AN ENVIRONEMENT.

Where is your proof the Environ. is self healing???

[flyfish29]

Originally posted by TigerPRO
There is a thing called "rain" that God designed to clean the air. We don't need to help Him...Does that mean I think I should worry about consuming less power running my Apple computer? NO! A little known fact about air pollution is that it's actually been declining since the 1970s, not steadily increasing as some would have you think.

First of all, show me the source of your air pollution stat! The amount of pollution per pound of coal (or whatever the source) is smaller, but we have more coal producing plants than ever to provide more energy than ever. I live in the Northeast and it is a proven fact that over the last 5 years there has been an increase in the haze found over the white and green mountains. They have traced the air particles directly back to midwestern coal producing plants. In addition, George Duh. Bush is attempting to strip the air and water quality standards act from the books to send us back over 20 years ago in air quality standards. We are using much more energy than ever before (and if we hadn't been so strict on standards over the last 20 + years we would be in more trouble than we are now.

By the way, Rain is part of the water cycle and it's "intent" is to create a living planet...yes, in a sense it does clean the air, but we drink that water, plant food in that water, kids play in that water, we swim in that water, etc.

Do some reasearch into some of the folowing topics and you will be enlighted a bit. Just some of the chemicals (found in certain products) that are currently found INSIDE the human body are the following: chemicals from Gore-Tex, Teflon, airline and fighter jet fuel, MTBE fuel additive, etc.

Many of these products are being banned due to the pollution they are creating in the environment and our bodies. The original formula of ScotchGuard brand stainresister spray has been banned! MTBE is close to being banned by the feds and some states have already done so.

As global warming worsens, ocean levels will continue to rise. Melting ice caps and glaciers are slowly increasing the amount of water in the oceans, and as ocean water warms, it expands, further raising sea levels.




From the Sierra Club.org site on warming of the envoronment-Obviously they are talking long term here, but does it matter?
They state:
"This could flood the 30 percent of the world's population that lives within 30 miles of the coastline, contaminate freshwater supplies and damage delta ecosystems such as the Amazon, the Ganges, the Mississippi and the Nile. "

Remove approx 30 miles inland in the following cities: Houston, New Orleans, New York, boston, Portland, SanDiego, Los Angeles, San Fran., Miami, etc.

BIG IMPACT IF YOU ASK ME!

[encephalon]

In an attempt to clear up any misconceptions.. Global warming and the ozone hole are two separate issues.

The ozone hole (or ozone depletion) is primarily caused by the introduction of CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons), also know as Freon. CFCs were used as a refrigerant and propellent for spray cans, and are quite harmless to us. But, when CFCs enter the upper atmosphere they are broken down by ultraviolet radiation and chlorine is released. Chlorine reacts with ozone, essentially destroying it. CFC use has been reduced since the initial discovery of the antarctic ozone hole in 1985, and hopefully as CFCs disperse out of the atmosphere the trend will be reversed.

Global warming is the result of an increased "Greenhouse Effect." Note: the Greenhouse Effect is a naturally occurring event, which makes the Earth comfortable to live on (without the Greenhouse Effect our planet would be 33 degrees C colder! :eek: ). The problem is the Greenhouse Effect could be increasing. Atmospheric CO2 concentrations have increased by about 25% since the beginning of the 19th century. This change is larger than any natural fluctuation that has occurred since the retreat of the glaciers 11,000 years ago and is attributable to the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation.

My source is my textbook sitting next to me, but I can try to find some information off of google for any skeptics :p . Off to class!

P.S. Just put your iMac to sleep :D

[beerguy]

It must suck to live in fear constantly because you only believe what you're told by some whacked extremist group.

Per the topic - I agree with the folks who recommended setting a shorter sleep time. That's as close to off as the thing gets.

[mactastic]

Originally posted by beerguy
It must suck to live in fear constantly because you only believe what you're told by some whacked extremist group.


Yeah, and then to invade another country over it.... Sheesh!

Sorry, this thread's headed for politics anyway.;)

[Makosuke]

This (the actual original topic) is of interest to me, because I'm in the same boat--there are times I want to turn my monitor off but leave the computer running (long download while I'm sleeping, for example), but I don't like to have the screen set to sleep after 5 minutes (or whatever), since I also sometimes watch videos on the computer, and a short screen sleep time is annoying.

So, aside from manually changing the monitor sleep time every time I need to, or having a non-Apple monitor with a physical power button (which I have at home right now...), a "sleep screen" command would be handy. Haven't found any shareware that can do this, though.

Any help?


I really don't want to get into a "political" argument (which environmental concerns really aren't) in a tech help forum, but I feel oblligated to speak up a bit from a slightly less polarized viewpoint...

For one, the environment most definitely is self healing, and very good at it. It just happens on the order of centuries and millenia, which I'm not willing to wait for.

Originally posted by beerguy
It must suck to live in fear constantly because you only believe what you're told by some whacked extremist group.I don't think a majority (though not all, admittedly) of climate scientists count as a "whacked extremist group", nor does either of my middle aged, conservative, PhD-holding bosses or their colleagues, including myself. Most people I know living in Alaska aren't seeing global warming as a distant future occurance, either, since they're seeing some significant changes right now.

Still, it's worth being reasonable about environmental concerns--non-greenhouse gas-based air pollution (the type that's just nasty in the short term) in the US has gotten better in the past several decades, because it was so bad people got angry and regulated against it. And even worst-case, the world isn't going to flood, only very low-lying areas (~1-2 meters altitude) near sea-level (like where I live, where half the town used to be a bay).

Hey, the "good" part is, the end of really cheap oil and more noticable anthrpocentric warming should, by most estimates, occur in the next 2-4 decades, so we'll see who's right within our lifetimes if no major changes occur before then.

[mactastic]

Why doesn't setting the screen brightness to zero work for you guys? That's my 'quick fix' solution, but then again I have a laptop, and I don't recall seeing brightness controls built onto the keyboard like on my laptop, but all you gotta do is open the prefs and change it, right?

[beerguy]

Originally posted by Makosuke
I don't think a majority (though not all, admittedly) of climate scientists count as a "whacked extremist group", nor does either of my middle aged, conservative, PhD-holding bosses or their colleagues, including myself.

The group referenced was the Sierra Club - I think that my description was closer than "climate scientists."

[Counterfit]

Originally posted by beerguy
The group referenced was the Sierra Club - I think that my description was closer than "climate scientists." By comparison, the Sierra Club is by no means "extreme", what about the eco-terrorists that firebomb stuff? they're pretty whacked, "Let's show how we're damaging the environment by BURNING ****!!!"


Okay, back on topic. You DO NOT need to set the computer to sleep to have only the display turn off. You can set the display itself to sleep after xxx minutes, and you can set a Hot Corner to disable the screen saver and sleep. I use the bottom right for that, and bottom left for turning the screen saver on.

[~Shard~]

Well, there's far too many enviro-posts to reply to now, so I won't even bother, but just to throw in my 2 cents:

The environment is self-healing? Sure, tell that to the billions of acres of rainforest that have been erradicated from the planet by the human race. They'll grow back, you say? Nice try.

Kay, that's enough off topic posting for me - for now... ;)

[jeffy.dee-lux]

haha
so yeah, anyways, even if you believe these curious statements about self healing environments (yeah, i agree, a couple 100 thousand years after we've wiped ourselves out, the earth would probably be doing alright for itself again, but on the short term...?), if you fall into the category of people who don't believe our actions are having any negative effect on our planet, to say you couldn't care less about the environment is pretty rediculous. I think you take a lot for granted. Imagine what it would be like if the water in your environment was filled with human excrement, or, something that more people in north america can relate to, pig excrement. Or imagine what it would be like if your environment didn't include air you can breathe. That may be a little far off from now, but if you live in a big city, you've seen and smelt that beautiful yellow cloud that just hangs over the streets. Not that i feel your all important personal computer is gonna contribute much to this by leaving its screen on for ten minutes, but i think that people who "couldn't care less" about their environment probably haven't realized that the word environment signifies more than something that a bunch of hippies and "extreme" educated folk care for for some reason.

If you lived in your own little self contained plastic bubble, you could do anything you want to it. But everyone on this planet has to deal with the negative impacts of your attitude, so try to be a bit more considerate.



now, someone said something about making a hot corner that'll put the screen to sleep instead of turning on the screen saver. i don't see how you do this, can you explain?

[~Shard~]

Originally posted by jeffy.dee-lux
now, someone said something about making a hot corner that'll put the screen to sleep instead of turning on the screen saver. i don't see how you do this, can you explain?

Yah, I'd like to know this as well - when I go into my Desktop/Screen Saver settings into the Hot Corners section, the only options I see are for the screen saver or some Expose' stuff. Are there ways you can customize this further? If so, that would be very cool...

(My apologies for the on-topic post)

[Counterfit]

You set the display sleep time to 1 minute, and set a Hot Corner for the screen saver. It starts counting when the screen saver starts, so after 60 seconds, the display turns off.

jeffy: they will (probably) grow back. It will just take a very long time.

[~Shard~]

Originally posted by Counterfit
You set the display sleep time to 1 minute, and set a Hot Corner for the screen saver. It starts counting when the screen saver starts, so after 60 seconds, the display turns off.

jeffy: they will (probably) grow back. It will just take a very long time.

Thanks for that Counterfit, I'll give it a try!

[Snowy_River]

Okay, I thought I'd just put in my 2 cents, from a slightly different perspective...

Yes, the environment is self healing. But what does that mean? I means that we can't kill the planet. We can change the planet, though. We can do enough to the environment that it will adapt to its new form, and suddenly the natural oxygen level in the atmosphere is significantly less than it was, and we can't breath.

I guess my point is that the environment isn't going to try to take care of us. It'll take care of itself. If that means that things will change to become inhospitable for us, then we'll be in trouble. So, yes, the environment can heal itself, but it could condemn us in the process. So, it's in our best interest to avoid changing things so much that the environment's healing process kills us...

[MarksEvilTwin]

Removed

[Counterfit]

Originally posted by MarksEvilTwin
then again, some people can disagree with anything... I disagree with that! :D

[TigerPRO]

Originally posted by Counterfit
I disagree with that! :D That's the funniest thing I've heard in a long time. lol.

[Counterfit]

Glad I could help :)

[wadetemp]

Regarding the original post, why wouldn't just setting the shortest display sleep time possible (a minute in 10.3) mostly solve the problem? You said you were OK with a 10-minute sleep time, why not a 1-minute?

[wadetemp]

I just poked around, and it looks like you can adjust the sleep time of the display with a single command: pmset -c dim <# of minutes> (you need to run this as root according to the man page.) 0 appears to set off time to "never", and I was unable to do anything except integer minute values. (Although I only messed with this for a minute.)

So if a short display sleep time was a problem for you (because you're watching animated shorts on your computer???), you could make two scripts you could run to switch between 1 minute and None or some longer time... and then just run the 1 minute script and walk away from your computer.

[mklos]

I have a 17' Flat Panel iMac and I start mine up at 9am and leave it on until around midnight every single day. If it burns out I have AppleCare and I will get it replaced.

I highly doubt it will happen again anyways. I haven't had any problems with my iMac besides the screen being tiled which has nothing to do with it being on all the time.

The iMac doesn't use very much power at all.

I never use sleep...it always seems to screw things up no matter which Mac I use. I just set it so that the screen saver turns on when ever its not in use for 10 minutes.

I wouldn't be worried at all...if your screen dies too many time Apple will give you a new iMac anyways.

[kingtj]

You know, the thing I really find "sad" about this discussion is the fact that it lends further credence to the claims many PC users make about Mac users generally being "neo-hippies" and "environmental freaks".

The Mac has always had a strong following with those having more Liberal political leanings, which probably just makes sense when you consider it's in widespread use with Hollywood types. But really, Apple has always had this around their neck as sort of a "ball and chain" - and I'm certain it hurts their potential marketshare.

(More than one politically "conservative" individual I've met refuses to use Apple computers on principle, believing they stand for all the things they dislike in politics. Heck, Jobs even put Gore on his board of directors!)

Especially with OS X based machines, "sleep mode" is increasingly inappropriate. These systems have scheduled maintenance events that are designed to happen late at night, and they don't get run when the computer is sleeping. Most Windows users who run their machines more than just occasionally have disabled the "energy star" power saving features a long time ago, because the hassles they cause just aren't worth the few cents it saves in electricity.

Mac users, by contrast, tend to be so hung up on their computer's "impact on the environment" that they use 3rd. party tools to get around the scheduled maintenance events, reduce system stability with hacks, and more - just to fight to leave "sleep" enabled. I don't get it.... Just turn it OFF if it's such a big deal.

[DaveTheGrey]

I would really like to know how old beerguy and tigerpro are...

http://edugreen.teri.res.in/explore/air/air.htm

Dave

[TigerPRO]

Originally posted by wadetemp
Regarding the original post, why wouldn't just setting the shortest display sleep time possible (a minute in 10.3) mostly solve the problem? You said you were OK with a 10-minute sleep time, why not a 1-minute? I guess it just had to do with convenience. Normally you don't want your computer to go to sleep, you just want to turn the display off. But while I can set the time for the display to go to sleep at a low number, I was just wondering if there was a simple way to do it manually. I really don't have a "problem", I was just curious.

[TigerPRO]

Originally posted by Dave187
I would really like to know how old beerguy and tigerpro are...

http://edugreen.teri.res.in/explore/air/air.htm

Dave I'll read over this page. But I must tell you the internet is a propaganda farm. So you shouldn't worship everything you read. The fact you found a website saying something you want it to, is completely irrelevant to how old someone is.

[TigerPRO]

Originally posted by mactastic
Why doesn't setting the screen brightness to zero work for you guys? That's my 'quick fix' solution, but then again I have a laptop, and I don't recall seeing brightness controls built onto the keyboard like on my laptop, but all you gotta do is open the prefs and change it, right? iMacs have brightness controls just like the PowerBooks and iBooks. But they work differently. On the iMac at least, the lowest setting does not turn off the screen like it does on the laptops. But actually, it doesn't even really turn the laptop screen off. If you look really closely in a dim room, you can still see all the activity going on.

[TigerPRO]

Originally posted by wadetemp
I just poked around, and it looks like you can adjust the sleep time of the display with a single command: pmset -c dim <# of minutes> (you need to run this as root according to the man page.) 0 appears to set off time to "never", and I was unable to do anything except integer minute values. (Although I only messed with this for a minute.)

So if a short display sleep time was a problem for you (because you're watching animated shorts on your computer???), you could make two scripts you could run to switch between 1 minute and None or some longer time... and then just run the 1 minute script and walk away from your computer. How do you learn about these UNIX control utilities? Is there a comprehensive list or manual somewhere? It would be interesting to know how to use them.

[Counterfit]

Originally posted by TigerPRO
iMacs have brightness controls just like the PowerBooks and iBooks. But they work differently. On the iMac at least, the lowest setting does not turn off the screen like it does on the laptops. But actually, it doesn't even really turn the laptop screen off. If you look really closely in a dim room, you can still see all the activity going on. Right, that's just a backlight control. Quite a battery saver if you turn it off when you don't need it.

Also, if you want to change the display sleep time, it's in System Preferences, under the Display pane. I don't know why you went to the Terminal...

[TigerPRO]

Originally posted by Counterfit
Right, that's just a backlight control. Quite a battery saver if you turn it off when you don't need it.

Also, if you want to change the display sleep time, it's in System Preferences, under the Display pane. I don't know why you went to the Terminal... I don't know why either. Cause I didn't. :) I was just asking about doing it.

[wadetemp]

Originally posted by TigerPRO
How do you learn about these UNIX control utilities? Is there a comprehensive list or manual somewhere? It would be interesting to know how to use them.

It can be interesting just to look though /usr/bin, and run man on each one of the files there. That can tell you quite a bit.

Originally posted by Counterfit
Also, if you want to change the display sleep time, it's in System Preferences, under the Display pane. I don't know why you went to the Terminal.

I mentioned the terminal because I think it's an avenue to a better solution for TigerPRO's trouble. He wants to be able to easily walk away from his computer with the screen turned off. Changing the system pref isn't exactly easy. I counted 5 clicks to change the mode. It doesn't appear to be scriptable with Applescript either (although I'm no expert at that, so maybe there is a way...)

However, the command line way of changing the same setting could be put in a shell script, and turned into a 1-click pair of dock icon that toggles the display sleep mode. If one's actually serious about sticking with a repetitive process like this, it needs to be easy... otherwise it's easier just stick with a 5-minute display sleep time like I do. :)

[flyfish29]

Originally posted by ~Shard~
The environment is self-healing?

Yes, the environment can self heal to an extent...however we are creating things that are not found in the environment naturally...how do you address those unnaturally occuring elements? By controlling them some way...either preventing their release, controlling the amount, etc.

As far as the topic goes. I believe the original topic was addressed, and this is simply a subtopic that came up and is being disussed. Obviously people have enough to discuss on the topic by the number of post.

[flyfish29]

Originally posted by Snowy_River
Okay, I thought I'd just put in my 2 cents, from a slightly different perspective...

Yes, the environment is self healing. But what does that mean? I means that we can't kill the planet. We can change the planet, though. We can do enough to the environment that it will adapt to its new form, and suddenly the natural oxygen level in the atmosphere is significantly less than it was, and we can't breath.

I guess my point is that the environment isn't going to try to take care of us. It'll take care of itself. If that means that things will change to become inhospitable for us, then we'll be in trouble. So, yes, the environment can heal itself, but it could condemn us in the process. So, it's in our best interest to avoid changing things so much that the environment's healing process kills us...

VERY POWERFUL AND WELL THOUGHT OUT STATEMENT...THANKS!

[johnnyjibbs]

Macs tend to be more energy efficient than PCs anyway, because the processors consume for less power than the P4 (even the G5).

The environment is very important to us because we need its well-being to survive. We can survive without Macs. To someone who didn't appear to have heard of global warming or even the holes in the o-zone layer, I can't see how they could be justified in saying things such as "the environment is self-healing."

The environment, under normal conditions, is 'self-healing' in one sense in that there are many cylces that operate within it. Some operate under short timescales (1-10,000 years) while others (such as greenhouse/icehouse) occur with periodicities of millions to tens of millions of years. Unfortunately, there is good evidence that anthropogenic effects (i.e. stuff caused by humans) are upsetting the balance.

I am no heroic and die-hard envionrmentalist, but I do care a great deal about the environment, and how we are continually putting business and profit before the environment. All the western governments need to learn a thing or two here, but I won't get any further or this will get political.

TigerPRO, your screen will not be damaged by having it on a couple of minutes longer but it's nice to see you want to be more energy efficient with it. Less on time means less power used, which means it's better for your iMac (although not noticeably) and better for the environment. ;)