Is it safe to move a PBook in sleep mode?

Vanilla said:

Hi
When I am either in the office or at home I feel quite comfortable in moving my PowerBook around with the lid closed in sleep mode. I always check that the incredibly cool, pulsating white light is on first and then move it.

However when I commute to/from my office, putting the Pbook in a Tucano second skin and then into my briefcase, out of habit from my PC days I always shutdown completely first.

My query is whether shutdown is strictly necessary for general commuting. Does sleep mode provide sufficient protection or is it better to shutdown when commuting?

Vanilla

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it won't make any difference to the powerbook. I have only shut down my PB three times in the last 18 months. It commutes with me every day and I haven't had any issues. Just tuck it in gently before it goes to sleep

Yup, no difference. The HD is spun down when sleeping, and that's all that really matters.

Vanilla said:

This is the first machine I have owned where I am constantly cleaning it with a damp soft cloth, flicking off stray crumbs etc. This is one pampered machine.

Vanilla

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Hey, it deserves it.

BTW, my ancient 1999 PB works fine, and I move it while asleep all the time.

Ahhh, one of the beauties of an Apple 'book— a sleep mode that actually works... I only shut down when software updates/upgrades require it... Otherwise this baby is always on... Planes, trains, automobiles- it's all good...

Shoot, I move mine even when it's on (read: lid open, completely awake)... no problems yet, nor have I had any with previous laptops.

A side note: some (all?) IBM ThinkPads immediately halt disk operation when they detect motion. This sounds pretty cool, and it's perhaps necessary if one were to drop a notebook.

Mike LaRiviere

Powerbooks do have a great sleep mode

I never really shut mine down, except for updates. It's been running for about 59 days now.

I take it to school, where it sits in my backpack inside a Tucano skin (the best ) and gets carried around all day, while asleep, and it's fine. It survived a flight from NYC -- > London -- > Belfast while asleep, and was fine. Recently, it came to Spain, and just now arrived home, all while asleep. Just perfect :-D

As has been mentioned, if the HDD isn't spinning - and it stops spinning a few seconds after shutting the lid - your pb is perfectly safe.

andy.

Somewhat related question: When my iBook is in sleep mode, should I unplug the power supply? I mostly use my iBook on weekends. Will it make a difference on the battery if I kept it plugged in all throughout the week when it's on sleep mode or shut down?

Sorry to post past the previous question, but I'm curious as to why people say PowerBooks have such "great" sleep modes. Do PC notebooks have bad sleep modes? I have encountered a problem once or twice with sleep on PC notebooks, but I've also encountered such problems on Macs. Why is it so great?

Mike LaRiviere

Sleep mode on PCs is ok. What most people are thinking about with PCs is hibernation -- which has lots of problems. Hibernation copies the RAM to disk and turns everything off, differing from sleep mode because sleep will leave stuff in the RAM at a little bit of power loss. I've found it to be like 1hr ~ 1% off the battery, so it's no big deal - especially as batteries get bigger and better.

It's ok to leave Apple laptops plugged in all the time. When a battery reaches 100% the computer disconnects from the battery. Batteries naturally drain, so when it gets to 95% it charges it back to 100%. This happens about once every 2 days and it doesn't hurt the battery at all. When the battery meter in the menu bar says (Charged) it means the book is running off of the powercord and for all technical purposes is the same as removing the battery.

I always leave the TiBook plugged in when I'm not using it, and leave it on but asleep. I've carried it in sleep mode both in a laptop bag, and over to my neighbors' so she can use iTunes (she can't afford a Dell, much less a Mac!). All without any problems.

The only time I power it down is if I'm traveling for most of the day and don't think I'll get a chance to use it, or if I'm traveling by plane. And that's only because I'm paranoid that the airport security scans are going to do something bad to the TiBook if it's on....

Has anyone taken a sleeping 'Book through an airport security scan, and does that hurt it at all?

rueyeet said:

The only time I power it down is if I'm traveling for most of the day and don't think I'll get a chance to use it, or if I'm traveling by plane. And that's only because I'm paranoid that the airport security scans are going to do something bad to the TiBook if it's on....

Has anyone taken a sleeping 'Book through an airport security scan, and does that hurt it at all?

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It's not going to harm your 'book putting through the x-ray machine while it's sleeping I've done it plenty of times. In fact it's the most convenient thing to do since any security staff doing their job properly will ask you to turn the computer on. If it's sleeping there's no need to wait at security while it boots.

MikeLaRiviere said:

Sorry to post past the previous question, but I'm curious as to why people say PowerBooks have such "great" sleep modes. Do PC notebooks have bad sleep modes? I have encountered a problem once or twice with sleep on PC notebooks, but I've also encountered such problems on Macs. Why is it so great?

Mike LaRiviere

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PC sleep modes are fine, and distinct from "Hibernate". No real worries, except that PCs tend to mess up waking up marginally more often than Macs when lots of tinkering has been done. But, essentially, it's exactly as useful.

Moving any computer around while it asleep/standby mode (same thing) is fine since the ram is running a min power so it not producing any real heat to cause it to do damage.

As for the PC sleep I find it to be pretty nice do not have a full understanding how it works but I do know you can set it up on what it can wake from sleep mode with (mouse, keyboard, or just power button)

As for airports I have flown many times with my laptop. They some times make you turn it on. Most of the time the dont all they tend to do is ask me to open up the monitor and they are happy
. I been ask to turn it on before when my bat was competly dead so there was no hope of me turning it on the gaurd was like Ok what ever and let me on my way. Now some times they will take it to another station and run more scans on it.

The only thing about sleep mode that I hate (on PC's), they tend to take fooooreeeevveeerr to come back from sleep. Macs, instaneous, plus or minus 1 second. The thing I really like about sleep on Macs is all interfaces/ports get shut down, conserving power and increasing the protection of your valuable assets. As to moving a PowerBook/iBook, done it lots of times. Can be using it, have to go somewhere in a car, need it at the destination, open the lid and back to work. Sleep done right.

I rarely shut my PC off. The only times I do is when I am leaving for an extended period, it overheats to an extreme temperature (almost as hot as the PowerBooks get when they are being used for a long time), and after software installations. I am perfectly comfortable transporting my PC in sleep mode. Never a single problem.