Do you leave your iMac on 24/7? or turn off at night

[gagaliya]

Coming from the PC world, i havent turned off my computer in 3 years, except during hurricane sandy and 1 other time where there is a power outage. My pc is on 24/7 for pretty much 3 years straight, as i have instant message and various server software running on it.

So with this imac, it looks so delicate.. i am afraid to leave it on like that. Of course i will turn off the display, but currently i have computer sleep = never, do you think i can just leave it like that for the next couple of years? just turning off the display at night but leave imac on with sleep = never.

What does everyone else do?

[torana355]

My 2008 iMac stayed on 24/7 from the day i got it till the 17th of Dec when my new 2012 iMac arrived. I didn't even put it to sleep, only the display. My new iMac will get the same treatment.

[annk]

I almost always just sleep my Macs, and have done so since my very first, a PowerBook in 2004.

I will occasionally restart if things seem to be slow or weird, but that's not often. I only turn them off if I'm going to be gone for more than a day or two.

[torana355]

Originally Posted by annk

I almost always just sleep my Macs, and have done so since my very first, a PowerBook in 2004.

I will occasionally restart if things seem to be slow or weird, but that's not often. I only turn them off if I'm going to be gone for more than a day or two.

I think the OP is asking if people just sleep the display, not the iMac itself.

[ChristianJapan]

I put my Mac to sleep once I go to bed. Hardly ever shut down. It don't take much power this way but boot very fast.

[NVRENUF!]

It should be fine to run,
I turn mine off at night and when i goto work but it sleeps when im home etc .

Remember at the end of the day its just electronics. The more they are on generating heat the more chance of something going wrong.

not to say it will but its just increasing the risk.

if i dont need it running i dont see the point in leaving it on using power and using having components on all the time.

with ssd it take 5 secs to boot anyway so its hardly an issue.

[Macman45]

My IMac runs 24 / 7....It just goes to sleep after a set period of inactivity...Wakes for network access, and only gets a re- boot if software updates require it. It's fine to leave them on.

[gagaliya]

Originally Posted by torana355

I think the OP is asking if people just sleep the display, not the iMac itself.

yeah i am really asking if people leave imac running 24/7 with sleep = never setting for the computer, looks like some do but only a very minority, and most leave it in sleep mode.

[lucasfunkt]

Perhaps a better question is do you leave your mouse/trackpad and keyboard on when you're not using them and overnight?

These have batteries in them which presumably you'll need to replace/recharge more regularly if you leave them on all the time. Or is it too much hassle to keep turning these off and on too?

[davidra]

About to spring for a new 2012: I leave my computers on all the time; this is my first Mac. Glad to see others do that as well. However, if you do leave it on all the time, is there much benefit to getting a fusion drive?

[lucasfunkt]

Why would you have to keep it on all the time is it just because you can't be bothered to turn it on each morning?

It wastes electricity and might prematurely age the computer so yeah I'll turn it off while I'm sleeping and out of the house.

[torana355]

Originally Posted by lucasfunkt

Why would you have to keep it on all the time is it just because you can't be bothered to turn it on each morning?

It wastes electricity and might prematurely age the computer so yeah I'll turn it off while I'm sleeping and out of the house.

I use mine as a media server and i always have torrents running on it.

[HardcoreWally]

Since I got my 2007 iMac towards the end of that year, it had been pretty much on 24/7, save for a times like being on the other side of Australia or out of the country for 3-4 weeks at a time.
Same settings, computer sleep = never, display sleep I usually have set to 1 minute.
Now I've got the new 2012 iMac and I have shut it down a few times but with a SSD in it, boot up & shut down is so damn quick.

[braddicted2mac]

Originally Posted by torana355

I use mine as a media server and i always have torrents running on it.

be careful with the torrents runnign on it all the time.. They are starting to crack down on that in Canada won't be long till they crack down on Australia !

[mchoffa]

Originally Posted by lucasfunkt

Why would you have to keep it on all the time is it just because you can't be bothered to turn it on each morning?

It wastes electricity and might prematurely age the computer so yeah I'll turn it off while I'm sleeping and out of the house.

I'm not talking a couple minutes, but sometimes 10 or more minutes to close everything and shut down, waiting endlessly for spinning beach balls to stop. The same thing happened for booting. I just got tired of dealing with that every morning and night, so letting it go to sleep was a much easier option for me. I really didn't like spending 20-30 minutes each day to shut down and boot a computer

[XofDyer]

My 2006 mac mini takes about 20 minutes to shut down 6-7 programs and then the OS, so it doesn't get shut down often. I'm hoping the newly order iMac will be easier to close down.

[Sodner]

Leave both on 24x7.

[mchoffa]

Originally Posted by XofDyer

My 2006 mac mini takes about 20 minutes to shut down 6-7 programs and then the OS, so it doesn't get shut down often. I'm hoping the newly order iMac will be easier to close down.

Sounds just like my 2008 iMac as posted above. You should get 20-30 seconds bootups and shut downs, assuming you've got fusion or SSD in the new iMac like I do.

[lucasfunkt]

Originally Posted by mchoffa

I'm not talking a couple minutes, but sometimes 10 or more minutes to close everything and shut down, waiting endlessly for spinning beach balls to stop. The same thing happened for booting. I just got tired of dealing with that every morning and night, so letting it go to sleep was a much easier option for me. I really didn't like spending 20-30 minutes each day to shut down and boot a computer

I've never taken more than 2 minutes to shut down a computer. You're current one must be ancient.

[Razorhog]

I leave it on 24/7. No sleep. I do put the display to sleep when I walk away though. I set up the top left corner as a hot corner that sleeps the display. So I just swipe the mouse pointer to that corner as I get up and it goes off

[torana355]

Originally Posted by Razorhog

I leave it on 24/7. No sleep. I do put the display to sleep when I walk away though. I set up the top left corner as a hot corner that sleeps the display. So I just swipe the mouse pointer to that corner as I get up and it goes off

haha same but mine is set to the top right

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Originally Posted by braddicted2mac

be careful with the torrents runnign on it all the time.. They are starting to crack down on that in Canada won't be long till they crack down on Australia !

My ISP does not monitor P2P activity. I use a seedbox now anyway

[BlueEagle]

I leave my iMac on 24/7. The only gets turned off when the power goes off. I feel it's better to keep computers on then turn them off constantly, it's probably just a mental thing.

[Apple fanboy]

Originally Posted by Razorhog

I leave it on 24/7. No sleep. I do put the display to sleep when I walk away though. I set up the top left corner as a hot corner that sleeps the display. So I just swipe the mouse pointer to that corner as I get up and it goes off

Same here but bottom right!

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Originally Posted by teddyofindy

isn't that when leaving the mac on all the time, it supposed to reduce the life of the hard drive. when the last HDD failed on my imac, I was told by someone. Now I turn off my iMac most of the days before bed. my was a late 2006 imac

Not if you have a Fusion Drive. The spinning part will only be used when information is needed from it (well thats my understanding anyway!)

[srcstc]

I've always heard that keeping the motherboard and other circuits at a constant temp is better for them than going from hot to cold all the time and vice versa.

[mchoffa]

Originally Posted by lucasfunkt

I've never taken more than 2 minutes to shut down a computer. You're current one must be ancient.

2008 24 inch with 4GB ram, 2.4GHz core 2
I usually run photoshop, illustrator, chrome with 20+ tabs, safari, skype, and some other small web/app dev apps... just to close chrome on that machine would take a good 3-4 minutes of spinning beach ball (I have it set to reopen current tabs on next reload). My ram was always maxed out, usually showing 10-50 MB available at any given time, but at some points it would grind down to 1-2 MB free and that's when I had trouble. Sometimes I had to close chrome and reopen it just to free up some ram (btw, Chrome is TERRIBLE at using resources and not freeing them back up, but it's so much faster for everything else)

Now on the 2012 I have the same workflow, but I can also open aperture (with all 30,000 photos) and premiere while all of that stuff is open and it doesn't even lag.