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gagaliya

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 24, 2010
376
229
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

macrumors 68040
Dec 8, 2009
3,609
2,676
Sydney, Australia
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

Administrator
Staff member
Apr 18, 2004
15,122
9,243
Somewhere over the rainbow
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

macrumors 68040
Dec 8, 2009
3,609
2,676
Sydney, Australia
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.
 

NVRENUF!

macrumors regular
Mar 19, 2012
181
0
PERTH, Australia
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.
 

OllyW

Moderator
Staff member
Oct 11, 2005
17,196
6,799
The Black Country, England
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.

I do the same. I've had my iMac for 4 1/2 years and the only time it's been shut down is when I go away on holiday.
 

mihai.ile

macrumors member
Oct 12, 2012
95
3
I usually turn off or put to sleep when not using the computer, I kind of feel bad wasting all that electricity for nothing important really. When setting up a server, I usually pay a lot of attention on the electricity all the components use since it is not going to be used at full capacity all the time, for more power uses of a server I just set up a virtual hosting somewhere and that's it.

Don't forget to think about all this electricity being wasted by leaving all your electronic equipment always on, not to mention that you are shortening the life of the equipment with (in most situations) no reason at all...
 

mchoffa

macrumors 6502a
Jul 12, 2008
832
52
Asheville, NC
I used to keep it on only because my old one took forever to close everything and shut down and to boot and open everything

The new one boots and everything is open in a minute and same for closing/shutting down, so I turn it off at night.

I've also now got a TB display in addition to the other external display so I assume I'd use a lot of power keeping it all on
 

lucasfunkt

macrumors 6502
Jun 11, 2012
315
5
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

macrumors 68040
Dec 8, 2009
3,609
2,676
Sydney, Australia
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

macrumors newbie
Dec 5, 2012
11
0
Perth, Western Australia
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.
 

mchoffa

macrumors 6502a
Jul 12, 2008
832
52
Asheville, NC
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

macrumors member
May 24, 2012
31
1
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.
 

tyche

macrumors 6502
Jul 30, 2010
413
65
I set it to go to sleep during inactivity. When I going to bed or leaving for a period of time, I force it to sleep and turn off my wifi keyboard (switch on top so easy) because the keyboard seems to send wake commands at weird times :confused:
 

iKnackwurst

macrumors member
Apr 23, 2012
81
50
Germany
I just activated sleep mode on my old one, but on the new one with the Fusion Drive i see no need to because it boots in under 15 seconds and loads everything extremely fast.
 

baxlobs

macrumors regular
Nov 21, 2012
238
14
Suffolk UK
The question is how much electricity it costs to leave it on 24/7?

A reader of MacFormat asked this question which is answered in the latest Xmas issue.

"A 27inch iMac uses 1.36W in sleep mode compared with 0.45W in soft-off."

The energy consumption is tiny, and you save a little time when resuming.

In UK terms this would amount to saving 1p for every 83 hours that the iMac is switched off.

If you are really worried about costs then make sure you unplug all your other electronic devices, TV, DVD recorder etc. They probably use far more power in standby than the iMac.
 

mihai.ile

macrumors member
Oct 12, 2012
95
3
A reader of MacFormat asked this question which is answered in the latest Xmas issue.

"A 27inch iMac uses 1.36W in sleep mode compared with 0.45W in soft-off."

The energy consumption is tiny, and you save a little time when resuming.

In UK terms this would amount to saving 1p for every 83 hours that the iMac is switched off.

If you are really worried about costs then make sure you unplug all your other electronic devices, TV, DVD recorder etc. They probably use far more power in standby than the iMac.

The problem is leaving the pc ON but just with the screen turned off, it is very different. Of course having the thing in sleep mode is like having it almost turned off. That is not the issue here.
 

mchoffa

macrumors 6502a
Jul 12, 2008
832
52
Asheville, NC
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

macrumors 6502
Jun 11, 2012
315
5
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 :)

:eek:

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