Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Swisha31

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 30, 2011
29
0
Some of you have had Macs for years now. I'm just now catching on lol. I saw someone mention something on one of the threads about which is better for the RAM, Startup, performance, etc. Whomever it was said that putting the computer to sleep over and over again instead of shutting it down and restarting every time was much better for the computer....any truth to this?
 
Neither of them will harm the computer but to be honest, today's computers and operating systems are more designed to be slept then shut down everytime. Just sleep it, it's faster and easier.
 
I haven't done daily shutdowns in over a decade. Sleep is the way to go. The only time I shutdown is air travel, required by an update, or doing a hardware upgrade. Otherwise I just close the lid when I'm done.
 
My laptop goes into Hibernate every time, it's effectively shut down, but saves what was on the RAM to the Hard drive, which then loads back onto RAM.

You'll get very quick boot up times resuming from Hibernation, plus it doesn't use battery life.
 
Neither. Use your computer as you want to. Mine can go for weeks at a time without a reboot, I only reboot to bootcamp or for updates(software or hardware).
 
I haven't done daily shutdowns in over a decade. Sleep is the way to go. The only time I shutdown is air travel, required by an update, or doing a hardware upgrade. Otherwise I just close the lid when I'm done.

+1 same here.

but for work laptop (windows) i have to shut down / restart at least twice a week, as it gets slower by the day by just sleeping it.
 
+1 same here.

but for work laptop (windows) i have to shut down / restart at least twice a week, as it gets slower by the day by just sleeping it.

i have windows at the moment and i have to shut down this much as well....making the transition to Mac in just over a week. just fielding all the questions i can about it now before i get it. want to optimize it because it will be for music production/personal use
 
i have windows at the moment and i have to shut down this much as well....making the transition to Mac in just over a week. just fielding all the questions i can about it now before i get it. want to optimize it because it will be for music production/personal use

Here's my tip for optimizing it: just use it as you want to, and don't worry about it.
 
Here's my tip for optimizing it: just use it as you want to, and don't worry about it.

o_O i will be using how i want.......and anybody that buys any type of computer will want to maximize performance....you haven't really helped much with this
 
You are looking for an answer that does not exist.

It just doesn't matter.

On the other hand, rebooting on occasion is good to let the OS reset, clear memory, etc.

In terms of negative effect on the computer one way or the other, there is no answer.

R
 
Related question:

Do you hardcore "sleepers" close applications first or do you just leave them running?

For some reason I always close all of the apps before I put the computer to sleep.

R
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.3.3; en-us; HTC Glacier Build/FRG83) AppleWebKit/533.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/533.1)

Rhyalus said:
Related question:

Do you hardcore "sleepers" close applications first or do you just leave them running?

For some reason I always close all of the apps before I put the computer to sleep.

R

Nope. I think the beauty of using sleep is being able to start right where you left off. I never close any programs.

I would also recommend smartsleep to allow you to sleep very quickly (instead of the default safe sleep that takes a while longer). It also lets you put the computer in hibernate so you can come back to exactly what you were doing without losing any battery life. I hope that apple will provide the option to switch between the three sleep states in lion. It really helps my workflow.
 
Related question:

Do you hardcore "sleepers" close applications first or do you just leave them running?

For some reason I always close all of the apps before I put the computer to sleep.

R

I just leave em all open, so when wake it up i remember where i left.

I would say just do a sleep (mac or windows), and when you feel it getting slower do a reboot.
 
o_O i will be using how i want.......and anybody that buys any type of computer will want to maximize performance....you haven't really helped much with this

My tip still holds true, the best computing experience is when you don't have to worry about the machine, only about the work done with it. Hence what I said, use it, and don't worry about it, that's how it's always been with my MBP since I switched to it and OS X, and it has served me flawlessly for the last 3 years.
 
o_O i will be using how i want.......and anybody that buys any type of computer will want to maximize performance....you haven't really helped much with this

It's already performance-optimized out of the box, there's really nothing more you need to do. I'd suggest sleep unless there's a reason for shutting down. I sleep it most of the time, unless it's unplugged overnight, as sleeping on battery will drain it a bit, especially with my computer.
 
+1 same here.

but for work laptop (windows) i have to shut down / restart at least twice a week, as it gets slower by the day by just sleeping it.

OMG!!! I just had a nasty flashback...

After reading your post, for a second I thought I was using a windows laptop, and when I reached the pad I almost freak out cause of the smooth surface of the magicpad.

I guess I need to sleep... haven't for 20+ hours


And regarding the topic, just do as you please. If you think turning on and off is a waste of time, then just sleep it. If you somehow believe a mac is somehow similar to an HP laptop which may spontaneously wake up while in your bag and melt(Macs 99.99% of the times dont), then turn it off.

I personally always sleep it. Unless I know for sure I wont be using it in the next 12 hours, in which case I turn it off.
 
I'd say its probably better to shut it down but to be honest its not going to make any dramatic difference. Its not like Windows were you have to restart it every so often because the OS craps out.
 
I'd say its probably better to shut it down but to be honest its not going to make any dramatic difference. Its not like Windows were you have to restart it every so often because the OS craps out.

See this is actually what i'm used to so that's why i asked. Ive been on a PC since the 1st AOL(not kidding). I was like 12 then or something and I just have all PC habits so all my questions or inquiries about optimizing it are from a Noob, PC perspective.....
 
See this is actually what i'm used to so that's why i asked. Ive been on a PC since the 1st AOL(not kidding). I was like 12 then or something and I just have all PC habits so all my questions or inquiries about optimizing it are from a Noob, PC perspective.....

Let it go you Apple Aprentice.

I forsee your future:

- Buy MBP
- 1 hour of configuring
- feeling awkward on the couch asking yourself what to configure next
- Realizing there is nothing to configure or add or change
- Trying to find a file system
- kind of scared of the way you don't have the same type of filesystem your used to.
- again look at the settings menu and realize everything is configured as needed.
- go create and share and work and stop thinking about your computer. Just using it.

I guess I want to say: welcome in another world, and unlike you said, "snaky69" gave you the best advise there is: don't worry about it. it will be fine.
 
Let it go you Apple Aprentice.

I forsee your future:

- Buy MBP
- 1 hour of configuring
- feeling awkward on the couch asking yourself what to configure next
- Realizing there is nothing to configure or add or change
- Trying to find a file system
- kind of scared of the way you don't have the same type of filesystem your used to.
- again look at the settings menu and realize everything is configured as needed.
- go create and share and work and stop thinking about your computer. Just using it.

I guess I want to say: welcome in another world, and unlike you said, "snaky69" gave you the best advise there is: don't worry about it. it will be fine.

lol....im not clueless about macs. i've just never owned one.
 
lot of sleepers here. didn't know that. I always shut down my MBP every night. I do it to clear out the RAM and give me a fresh start the next day. Also shutting it down and closing all open apps gives me a sense of completion of the day's work :D

I'd sleep an iMac or desktop that doesn't have a portable battery as calibration won't be interfered and such (a little paranoid).
 
I pretty much always sleep it. And I'm always amazed by how quickly it's ready to go after I re-open the lid. I was used to waiting a bit on my (fairly new) PC.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.