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Sleep or Shutdown your rMBP?

  • Sleep

    Votes: 57 81.4%
  • Shutdown

    Votes: 13 18.6%

  • Total voters
    70

Steve686

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Nov 13, 2007
3,881
1,881
US>FL>Miami/Dade>Sunny Isles Beach>Condo
I am curious what the consensus is with the new rMBP with SSD drives is as far as shutting down your laptop, or just closing the lid and going into sleep mode.

I love being able to sleep and wake instantly, but wouldn't do that with my 2008 unibody MBP because in one instance I closed the lid, put it in my bag, and assumed it was asleep. I opened the bag an hour later to find out the laptop was too hot to touch as it was still running inside my bag.

I've noticed with the 15" model I just purchased, it seems to sleep instantly when the lid is about 90% closed and this seems to alleviate any fears I have of it not actually going to sleep in this condition.

So in closing, do you shutdown or just sleep your rMBP when not in use?
 

T5BRICK

macrumors G3
Aug 3, 2006
8,313
2,387
Oregon
99.5% of the time I just let my MacBook Pro sleep. I only shut them down if I'm not going to use it for an extended period of time.

As for the time your MBP kept running while it was in your bag, that was probably just a fluke. If the laptop reaches a certain temp, it'll shut down to prevent damaging itself.
 

12dylan34

macrumors 6502a
Sep 3, 2009
884
15
I've always just let my machines sleep. I had the same issue with a 2008 MacBook Pro, though. I'd put it in my bag, lid closed, and it would be searing hot until it ran the battery all the way down. Not sure why it did that. It had some pretty severe sleep/wake issues, I think.
 

priitv8

macrumors 601
Jan 13, 2011
4,028
638
Estonia
On a 2008 Pro I always observed the sleep LED before even grabbing it from table. That is to let it complete it's thing and park the HDD heads before applying any G-forces.
 

johnnnw

macrumors 65816
Feb 7, 2013
1,214
21
I don't think I've shut my Macbook off in like 6 months.

Always sleep
 

Steve686

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Nov 13, 2007
3,881
1,881
US>FL>Miami/Dade>Sunny Isles Beach>Condo
Ok. Sleep>Shutdown.

I've now 'slept' my laptop several times and went back to check it 10 minutes later each time, for heat. It definitely sleeps and I think I can put that non-sleeping issue of my 2008MBP to rest finally.

It seems to do very well versus the 2008 in terms of not using the battery very much while in sleep mode. I seem to remember the 2008 draining considerably faster than the 2014 model.

----------

On a 2008 Pro I always observed the sleep LED before even grabbing it from table. That is to let it complete it's thing and park the HDD heads before applying any G-forces.

If I remember correctly, it usually took 15-20 seconds to freaking sleep and that light would drive me crazy while I was waiting for it. :eek:
 

priitv8

macrumors 601
Jan 13, 2011
4,028
638
Estonia
If I remember correctly, it usually took 15-20 seconds to freaking sleep and that light would drive me crazy while I was waiting for it. :eek:
I agree this tested your temper, but only for the better. I don't remember having any overheating issues like yours. And I carried it in my bag daily. Of course, sleep function depends heavily on well-behaved software, esp drivers & system extensions (kexts).
 

simonsi

Contributor
Jan 3, 2014
4,851
735
Auckland
I've had one instance when running the original Lion on my 2011 of it not sleeping and getting hot, no recurrence on ML or Mavericks.
 

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,414
43,304
My rMBP is on 24x7. I have it to set to go into sleep after 2 hours of inactivity.
 

eastercat

macrumors 68040
Mar 3, 2008
3,323
7
PDX
My 2008 doesn't have sleep issues. When I close the lid, I see the blinking light that indicates sleep mode.
 

Dilster3k

macrumors 6502a
Jul 20, 2014
790
3,206
The best way to describe it is by looking at the way iPhones & iPads work, they also only sleep and aren't really shut off. With modern Macs with fast RAM & SSD's with software integration such as Power Nap, it's way more practical to let my machine sleep... You just shut the lid and you're good to go immediately when you open it up again. (It also goes easy on the battery)

I only shut it off when I need to update something or will not use the device for a long period of time.
 

Codeseven

macrumors 6502a
Dec 31, 2008
836
339
I love being able to sleep and wake instantly, but wouldn't do that with my 2008 unibody MBP because in one instance I closed the lid, put it in my bag, and assumed it was asleep. I opened the bag an hour later to find out the laptop was too hot to touch as it was still running inside my bag.

Same happened to me with my late 2008 MBP. I 'thought' it had been shut down. Put in it's padded bag and forgot about it. I kept hearing a whining noise coming from somewhere. A couple hours later I walked by the bag and realized the whining was coming from the laptop fans out of the small zipper opening. I hurriedly unzipped the bag and the fans were screaming! The unibody was almost too halt to handle to the point i could swear the internals were on the verge of melting. I panicked and opened the fridge :eek:, set it in there with the door open and waited 30 minutes for the fans to slow down. Ran fine after that :)
 

Traverse

macrumors 604
Mar 11, 2013
7,688
4,399
Here
I used to shut down every night, but now it's just easier to sleep all week and shut it down once a week.
 

M5RahuL

macrumors 68040
Aug 1, 2009
3,404
2,022
TeXaS
I don't even remember the last time I powered down my rMBP... It's always just close lid - sleep.. :)
 

Steve686

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Nov 13, 2007
3,881
1,881
US>FL>Miami/Dade>Sunny Isles Beach>Condo
Hmm. Seems like all of the instances of the MBP not actually shutting down properly relate to the 2008 series of unibody machines.

I think there was an issue of the 2008 notebooks waking from sleep while the lid was closed. I actually did use my MBP with my Samsung 50" TV while the lid was closed. If I recall, I connected to the TV and closed the lid, and there was a setting in Leopard that allowed the MBP to be closed while running on the TV.

That was a long time ago so I can't remember every detail. I'd like to make sure that I can not wake my new rMBP from sleep while the lid is closed. I'll search the SysPrefs to see if I can avoid it, but so far it has acted perfectly every time.
 

AndyK

macrumors 65816
Jan 10, 2008
1,025
377
Terra
I've had my rmbp for 9 months now and I think I've shut it down twice in that entire time.
 

Skylitfly

macrumors 6502a
May 3, 2014
583
215
In most of cases I just sleep it. But if I have to carry it in a bag I'll always shut it down first. I will never carry my MacBook while it's in sleep mode.

Thats just how I am. :D
 

swerve147

macrumors 6502a
Jan 12, 2013
837
114
^^Yeah. Due to a couple of stories on these boards about people reaching into their laptop bags to find their Macbooks still turned on and overheating, I now always shut down whenever I travel. Otherwise I usually let it sleep while it's on a desktop.
 

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,414
43,304
^^Yeah. Due to a couple of stories on these boards about people reaching into their laptop bags to find their Macbooks still turned on and overheating, I now always shut down whenever I travel. Otherwise I usually let it sleep while it's on a desktop.

I had that occur back in the day with a Macbook (non pro) and since then when I do travel, the computer gets turned off, otherwise when I'm working at my desk, it stays on morning, noon and night.
 

2984839

Cancelled
Apr 19, 2014
2,114
2,239
At home I usually just close the lid, but I shut it down at night or if I go somewhere and leave it at home. If I bring it with me anywhere, I always shut it down when I'm transporting it and when I'm done using it.
 
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