Do you turn the Mac mini off?

What computer doesn't charge while in sleep mode?

Che Castro said:

Also when the Mac mini is in sleep mode , can it charge an ipad/iphone via the USB cable ?

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My iPhone doesn't charge when in sleep mode, but I am on an old PB with 10.5.8 so that might be different.
I think it won't on any mac whatever the OS.

I switch mine off when I'm not using it. Even though i have the Lion server version, I'm not at home as much as I was (only at weekends as I work away).

No point in burning extra electricity when I don't need to

I have a 2011 Mac Mini and just put it to sleep every night... I do restart it every week or so.
It does charge my iPhone 5 via the USB cable when in sleep mode.

Che Castro said:

Dinggus ?

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Does your computer not charge your devices while in sleep mode? My iMac does.

Mine is configured to go to sleep afte 1hr of no usage activity. Screen turns off after 15mins. Do not see the reason to shut it down completely.

I don't power off or sleep it....just sleep the monitors.

yes, i turn it off...


(jesus...)

LOL turning off the computer every night is such an old PC thing to do. My parents still do that.

The power consumption during sleep mode is barely measurable.

I only turn if off if im leaving for vacation for a week. Oh wait..I dont.

Every day auto set to do so, on/off , why suck all that dust in 24/7, worrying about temps and running a computer like an exhaust fan seems counter productive ... to me.


Greg

Mine's on a schedule - wake up every day at 8 AM, sleep every night at 11 PM. We have a Magicjack for phone service and media hosted from the mini to my MBP and a couple Sony streaming players (and a TV PC), so it does not sleep during the daytime hours - I do have the HDDs spins down, though. This has worked perfectly for my needs. Add in a reboot/shutdown once a week or so and I'm good to go.

I can't really see a justification for turning my Mini off. Based on this document provided by Apple:

http://images.apple.com/environment/reports/docs/macmini_oct2012.pdf

The 2012 mini's are using roughly 1.24 watt/hr in sleep compared to .26 watt/hr off. So yes, it uses 5x the amount of energy in sleep compared to sleep, but even in sleep it is going to take 800 hours (or 33 days) before you use a full K/hr. For me, that means if it sleeps for an entire month it cost me all of 11 cents. I know that many of you have higher costs for energy, but the ability to have near "instant" on is worth it to me.

Heck even at idle, this document states it only uses 10.3 watts so I could keep it from going to sleep, and still only use about 7.5 K/hr (83 cents) for the entire month....

paulrbeers said:

I can't really see a justification for turning my Mini off. Based on this document provided by Apple:

http://images.apple.com/environment/reports/docs/macmini_oct2012.pdf

The 2012 mini's are using roughly 1.24 watt/hr in sleep compared to .26 watt/hr off. So yes, it uses 5x the amount of energy in sleep compared to sleep, but even in sleep it is going to take 800 hours (or 33 days) before you use a full K/hr. For me, that means if it sleeps for an entire month it cost me all of 11 cents. I know that many of you have higher costs for energy, but the ability to have near "instant" on is worth it to me.

Heck even at idle, this document states it only uses 10.3 watts so I could keep it from going to sleep, and still only use about 7.5 K/hr (83 cents) for the entire month....

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mine uses 4 watts / hour in sleep (i5 base 2012)

slickadam said:

mine uses 4 watts / hour in sleep (i5 base 2012)

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There's going to be a lot of variation based on components. Who knows what Apple tested this with (could have been a base mini, with only 1 stick of RAM, and an external hard drive). Point is simple, they use very very little power in sleep to the point where it makes it almost pointless to truly turn it off. Just my .02 worth.

I let it idle if I'm home. Turn it off if I'm going out or when I sleep.

I've always had a habit of turning off or unplugging electronics if they're not in use.

paulrbeers said:

There's going to be a lot of variation based on components. Who knows what Apple tested this with (could have been a base mini, with only 1 stick of RAM, and an external hard drive). Point is simple, they use very very little power in sleep to the point where it makes it almost pointless to truly turn it off. Just my .02 worth.

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not if you pay 49 US cents / kWh (germany) and you also have other devices in standby all the time.
a normal family pays ca. 68 $ for "standby" / year...

I leave my mini on 24/7 except when I need to reboot for updates, etc. It is very energy efficient so shutting down every time I am done using it seems pointless.

justperry said:

My iPhone doesn't charge when in sleep mode, but I am on an old PB with 10.5.8 so that might be different.
I think it won't on any mac whatever the OS.

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With more modern Macs you can plug the iPhone in when the computer is already awake, then sleep it and the charging will continue. It just won’t charge if you plug it in when the computer is already asleep.

slickadam said:

not if you pay 49 US cents / kWh (germany) and you also have other devices in standby all the time.
a normal family pays ca. 68 $ for "standby" / year...

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And if you see my previous post I stated that many have much higher energy rates which is basically me saying "do what you have to do".....

If you use Apple's #'s, that equates to about $5.32 US (1.24 w/hr x 365 x 24 / 1000 x .49) if left on Sleep and $1.12 off (assuming you never actually used the mini in the entire year). Difference equates to less than 40 cents US per month difference. Even at that rate, it wouldn't be worth it to me to turn my mini off. Even if you use slickadam's rate of 4w/hr for sleep, that equates to $17.17 a year spent in sleep which means it would cost you about $1.34 more a month to leave it in sleep vs turning off (assuming Apple's figure of .26w/hr turned off). Around here that's barely a cup of cheap coffee.....

Again to each his own. I can only speak to my habits and my situation. I'm not telling anyone what to do. Che Castro asked about our habits and I explained why I do what I do.

Energy savings aside, what about long-term wear on the drives (both platters and SSDs) when one consistently shuts down vs. sleeps the machine?

Mostly leave my 2011 Mini in sleep mode. As I use it every day, I appreciate the instantaneous operation at the touch of a key far too much to switch it off.

Obvious exception is if I'm going to be away for more than a weekend at least.

My mac mini power management is stock configured. Before I sleep, i will sleep the mac mini and after 1-2hrs i find that the power light has gone off completely.

So the mac mini has gone into hibernation mode and should be consuming 0w of power?

How is that not energy efficient?

My 2012 Mini is hooked up to my HDTV in the living room and it has become my main computer, so I never turn it off. And since it's hooked up to my TV, I don't put the display to sleep either since I do that with my Harmony remote when switching inputs or turning off the TV.