Alternate iMac power key.

[sultanoflondon]

Hello,

I have an iMac, Late 2012 version, and the power key is inaccessible due to peripherals around it. Could I use a keyboard or trackpad power key to switch on the Mac? Called Apple and AppleCare advisor said that this is not possible, but it is possible to write a command in Terminal for it.

Could anyone help me on this, because I have never used or even opened Terminal?

Thanks in advance for any help given.

 

[rkaufmann87]

Hello,

I have an iMac, Late 2012 version, and the power key is inaccessible due to peripherals around it. Could I use a keyboard or trackpad power key to switch on the Mac? Called Apple and AppleCare advisor said that this is not possible, but it is possible to write a command in Terminal for it.

Could anyone help me on this, because I have never used or even opened Terminal?

Thanks in advance for any help given.

No but you can use Power Save to set your iMac to sleep or (my preference)the display to sleep.In addition you can use Power Save to setup a startup or sleep time.

 

[DeltaMac]

How often do you think you will need to get at the power button?

I leave a Mac on 24/7, and the Mac is asleep when not in use. I may go several weeks without needing to know where the power button is located.
How does it happen that you have such an enormous pile of peripherals, that one has to block access for one finger to reach around the edge of your iMac?

Are those peripherals so large and heavy that you can't move one slightly to get at the power button?

If you simply need to shut off your Mac, you can use the keyboard shortcut of Control-Eject - which will bring up the shutdown window. Press Enter, and your Mac will shut down.
But - even with a terminal command - how do you get to the terminal to run a command, if your iMac is OFF?
You would still need to get to the power button to turn your iMac back on.

Another option is to use settings in your Energy Saver pref to set automatic shutdown, or a start up at a particular time.

 

[sultanoflondon]

Alternate iMac power key.

Hi. Thanks to rkaufmann87 and DeltaMac for your answers. Much appreciated.

I will use the Energy Saver settings in Preferences to have the Mac on when necessary.

But would it be advisable to leave the iMac on 24/7, would it not slow down or overheat?

Thanks.

 

[DeltaMac]

No.
In fact, using your Mac, and leaving it on, often will allow the Mac to work with better performance, as RAM is released by apps that you might have open, but are not using for a period of time. (Idle apps use almost no RAM).
But, typically - I put my Mac to sleep when I'm not actually at the computer. The display goes off, and all drives/fans stop. There's only enough power used to keep the RAM powered. Anything that heats up will go completely cold durng sleep. There's no other indication that the Mac is even on, until you press a key to wake it up. The Mac can stay in that state indefinitely. A laptop will sleep for several days (until the battery runs flat) I have one Mac that is often not ever shutdown completely for a couple of months.
And, as rkaufmann87 suggested, using display sleep means you can keep the system completely on, with just the display off. It's a good method to keep the system available for network use, or if you have a long task that runs - you usually don't need to watch the display for some kinds of work.
Your Mac has fans that will keep it cool, there's normally nothing to be concerned about overheating.

 

[chabig]

Agree with the above. It's normal to leave a Mac on 24/7 and let it sleep when you're not using it. You really never need to shut it down.

 

[sultanoflondon]

Okay. Thanks to all much appreciated information.

I shall leave the iMac ON indefinitely and theoretically not need to even use the power key.

Thanks everyone!

 

[Chippy99]

You might be interested to know that the 27" iMac uses less than 1W of power whilst asleep, which is pretty astonishingly low really. It uses around one quarter of a watt whilst powered off, so to power it off you are saving less than 3/4 of a watt!

Still, a reboot is good once in a while, to clear out memory and run the various boot time scripts etc.

 

[Serban]

can you set up somewhere at a specific time the imac will start automatically ?

 

[DeltaMac]

can you set up somewhere at a specific time the imac will start automatically ?

The Energy Saver pref can schedule sleep/shutdown/startup.

BTW, a reboot (restart), or most any other action, does not require pressing the power button - only if the iMac power is off.

 

[Choctaw]

Hello,

I have an iMac, Late 2012 version, and the power key is inaccessible due to peripherals around it.

I would like to see a picture of your inacessible power switch. Of all the post I have read on this forum through the years this one make the lest amount of sense. The power switch only requires putting your fingers around the LF lower corner or under the screen to push a very accessible button. Yes, I would like to see how you have blocked that assess. I am not bad mouthing your post, but I am logically questioning your comment as to it's validity !

Choctaw