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iMas70

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Sep 4, 2012
1,434
205
MA
I've always leave my computers running. My last PC has been on for a few years without being shut down. Any problem leaving Macs running all the time?
 

mwhities

macrumors 6502a
Jul 13, 2011
899
0
Mississippi
I've always leave my computers running. My last PC has been on for a few years without being shut down. Any problem leaving Macs running all the time?

I leave my 09 (sig) on 24/7 (running headless) and my Macbook only sleeps when I close the lid. So I never really shut it off.

So keep it on.
 

rolsskk

macrumors 6502
Sep 1, 2008
300
297
I've always left my Minis running (or sleeping when inactive for awhile), no problems there.
 

oldtime

macrumors 6502
Nov 27, 2007
434
396
Have only shut down my Mini for updates since purchasing it in July. No problems whatsoever.
 

Ifti

macrumors 68040
Dec 14, 2010
3,910
2,407
UK
My mini also runs headless 24/7.
They use next to nothing when in sleep mode anyway (electricity wise).
 

dasx

macrumors 65816
Jun 18, 2012
1,107
18
Barcelona
Always ON. Sleep mode ON too. Due to ML f-ck up with sleep mode I gotta use caffeinate though.

I usually do a reboot every 3/4 days too.
 

DocBru

macrumors newbie
Oct 28, 2012
5
0
Germany
Since 23 hours of the day my mac mini would be idleing I shut it down. With the SSD it comes up so fast, that it doesn't matter to me.
 

blanka

macrumors 68000
Jul 30, 2012
1,551
4
Did you calculate how much cash you wasted on the electricity bill?
Turn it off. Any Mac boots within your first coffee.
 

phoenixsan

macrumors 65816
Oct 19, 2012
1,342
2
No problems.....

to my knowledge when you have good ventilation, no voltage fluctuactions and no running intensive apps (read/writing to HDD, RAM intensive or processor intensive tasks)

:):apple:
 

BingClawsby

macrumors regular
Mar 2, 2010
123
3
like a washing machine, electric stove, power tool, table lamp, tv, stereo, guitar amp, etc, etc, i turn it on when its being used and turned off when its not
 

motrek

macrumors 68030
Sep 14, 2012
2,613
305
I've always leave my computers running. My last PC has been on for a few years without being shut down. Any problem leaving Macs running all the time?

To answer your question literally, no, there is no problem with leaving a Mini turned on indefinitely. In fact, the server version of the Mini is intended to be left on.

Personally though, I would just let the computer go to sleep when idle. It won't save that much on the electricity bill but the computer might as well be "off" when you're not using it. (And sleep mode is more or less the same as turning it off. Minimal power consumption.)
 

iMas70

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Sep 4, 2012
1,434
205
MA
Did you calculate how much cash you wasted on the electricity bill?
Turn it off. Any Mac boots within your first coffee.

I don't drink coffee so it will feel like forever! ;)

It goes into sleep mode but I don't physically shut it down. I keep strange hours and like the computer ready at a move of the house. I know, I'm impatient but life is short! :)
 

Fishrrman

macrumors Penryn
Feb 20, 2009
28,241
12,388
For going on 25 years, I've kept my desktop Macs connected to surge protectors, and shut them down at night or during periods of non-usage. I also turn the power strips off as well.

I've come to believe that it's "good maintenance" to boot from a cold shutdown. That guarantees that after rebooting you'll be on "a fresh start", fresh login, etc.

Just doing that much can clear up glitches and problems now and then (item in trash that won't empty, etc.).

I will leave my MacBookPro on sleep for a few days at a time, but try to restart that "from scratch" periodically, too.
 

GGJstudios

macrumors Westmere
May 16, 2008
44,539
941
I've always leave my computers running. My last PC has been on for a few years without being shut down. Any problem leaving Macs running all the time?
No, there's no problem leaving them running. I have a Mac mini that serves as my Plex server, as well as other computing duties. It's on 24/7 for several months at a time. Zero problems.
 

iMac mini

macrumors newbie
Nov 19, 2011
19
0
I have a Mac Mini 2011 since January 2012, and I turn it off every night. Never had a problem.....
 

kappaknight

macrumors 68000
Mar 5, 2009
1,595
91
Atlanta, GA
like a washing machine, electric stove, power tool, table lamp, tv, stereo, guitar amp, etc, etc, i turn it on when its being used and turned off when its not

Do you unplug it too? It still draws power unless it's unplugged.

----------

To answer your question literally, no, there is no problem with leaving a Mini turned on indefinitely. In fact, the server version of the Mini is intended to be left on.

Personally though, I would just let the computer go to sleep when idle. It won't save that much on the electricity bill but the computer might as well be "off" when you're not using it. (And sleep mode is more or less the same as turning it off. Minimal power consumption.)

The server is pretty much the same machine as the regular mini - the main difference is software, and that difference is only to add management of multiple users instead of just one.

You can leave most modern computers on all the time and let it sleep with no issues. It's less of a shock to them than booting up once a day.
 
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xlii

macrumors 68000
Sep 19, 2006
1,867
121
Millis, Massachusetts
I've always left my machines on 24/7. When they are not being used they go to sleep. There is no wrong or right answer here. Leave it running or turn it off... pick your personal preference.

I turn it off for only 2 reasons, I go away on vacation or thunderstorms (chance of power outage). In the case of chance of power outage I unplug my tv, computers, and disk drives from power.

I had my time machine drive die when I lost power during Sandy last month. At least it was my oldest drive. The enclosure I had it in was still good.
 
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