Should I sleep or shut down when I'm away?

[Trance]

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Im a First time laptop user when I'm not home or sleeping should I put my mbp to sleep or shut it down?

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Sleep seems to be the preferred option when leaving the Mac for less than two days untouched, according to countless threads upon this.

______________________________________________________
This should answer most, if not all, of your battery questions:
Apple Notebook Battery FAQ by GGJstudios
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[mtip]

Shouldn't make a difference. Mine only sleeps when I'm carrying it somewhere. Otherwise it's on 24/7, hasn't been shut down since the moment I bought it in January and only gets restarted when required by an update. No issues.

 

[Taz Mangus]

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Im a First time laptop user when I'm not home or sleeping should I put my mbp to sleep or shut it down?

Just let it sleep as there is no reason to shut it down when it is not in use. If you are concerned about the battery life, it will drain a slight bit when it is asleep but then you have to weigh that against the time you have to wait for the computer to boot. The only time I even reboot my Macs is for when it is required by a software update. The MacBook Pro is designed to be left on all the time.

 

[Macman45]

The Third Way

Nothing wrong with the advise above. But I shut down when I'm done....Could be 4 hours or 24.

Then I shut down. Once a week I run the daily / weekly scripts which would have run whilst the machine is idling if left on. I use Onyx (free) there isn't really a wrong or right way, what Apple are getting at is: don't boot up, check your email and then shut down...even that is okay.....It's to save wear and tear on component uptime.

It's a personal thing.

 

[alust2013]

I let it sleep unless it's unplugged overnight, as my battery life isn't great and mine drains pretty bad when asleep, especially if I left any apps running. The newer ones have about double the battery life of mine though, so that probably wouldn't even be an issue. I occasionally shut down overnight or if I'm not going to use it for a day or more, but that's not very often.

 

[Matthew9559]

Just let it sleep.

 

[mrsir2009]

I never shut down my MacBook Pro... I only restart when there's an update or when there's a problem. I also leave Mail and Google Chrome Canary open in full screen 24/7 as well

 

[GuitarG20]

I shut it down when I go to bed and turn in back on in the morning... or I shut it down when I don't want to use it because I need to study. During the day I just put her to sleep though.

 

[fireman32]

I just let mine sleep. When I am home it is connected to my external monitor using clamshell mode.

 

[Peter Franks]

Once a week I run the daily / weekly scripts which would have run whilst the machine is idling

Hey Macman, what are these and where is it?

I only let sleep when away from it for a few mins or an hour or so, but I shut down just because the battery life stinks and sleep loses a fair few percent on mine.

 

[jbjones85]

I sleep mine unless its going to be off for more than a day or two without being connected to the AC cord.