Do you leave your PowerMac always on?

[mikiotty]

Hi everyone!
As these G4s are getting old, I have a question for you: do you leave them on all day and overnight or do you turn them off? Do you put them to sleep?
What's best for components? I read some time ago that powering on and off the computers is worse for components as they heat up and then cool down multiple times.
Thank you!

 

[Gamer9430]

Well, for me it depends on the system and what it is doing. My G5 was on all night last night because I was backing up something to the computer. However, on most nights I put it to sleep. Other computers, like my Performa get shutoff since I don't need it on all the time. All-in-all, I just put everything to sleep most of the time because I plan on using it at a different point in the near future.

 

[mikiotty]

Well, for me it depends on the system and what it is doing. My G5 was on all night last night because I was backing up something to the computer. However, on most nights I put it to sleep. Other computers, like my Performa get shutoff since I don't need it on all the time. All-in-all, I just put everything to sleep most of the time because I plan on using it at a different point in the near future.

So you never turn it off but leave it to sleep. Ok, thanks

 

[Gamer9430]

So you never turn it off but leave it to sleep. Ok, thanks

Yup. That's correct. Glad to be of service

 

[fuchsdh]

I tend to turn off my computer every night except for maybe the weekends, when I'm really lazy. I'm out of the house or asleep for 17 hours of the day no point burning watts while I'm not there to enjoy them. It is nice with OS X not to have to worry about long uptime killing you though.

Since you piqued my curiosity, I went to check on our little Mac mini G4 that serves as our office disc label and burner—uptime is currently 374 days and counting.

 

[eyoungren]

I leave them runnIng. Just have them set to turn off monitors.

At work our Macs are also left running 24/7 including holidays and weekends. The G5 went 8 years that way before I had to replace the logicboard/CPU.

 

[powermi]

Here i have a GigabitEthernet G4 up from the first day it was bought.

 

[bse5150]

I leave my computers on 24 hours a day.

 

[MatthewLTL]

As a computer tech for the past 12 years I can tell you for a fact it is NOT good to leave a computer running 24/7. It is really bad for them and shortens their lifetime DRASTICALLY why to you think server grade equipment is so damn expensive? THOSE are the only computer designed and made to be left on 24/7.

 

[mikiotty]

Here i have a GigabitEthernet G4 up from the first day it was bought.

...15 years? :| wow! Can you post a screenshot of your uptime?
My QuickSilver was actually owned by my father and used in his office up to about 4 years ago. It has been running almost 24/7 from 2001 to 2011 and it's bombproof. The only thing that broke was the hard drive, and it did happen after the Mac was retired.

----------

As a computer tech for the past 12 years I can tell you for a fact it is NOT good to leave a computer running 24/7. It is really bad for them and shortens their lifetime DRASTICALLY why to you think server grade equipment is so damn expensive? THOSE are the only computer designed and made to be left on 24/7.

Interesting, as you say the opposite of anyone else in this thread

 

[powermi]

anyway to totalizate the uptime?
with "uptime" command i just got from the las reboot.

 

[MatthewLTL]

...15 years? :| wow! Can you post a screenshot of your uptime?
My QuickSilver was actually owned by my father and used in his office up to about 4 years ago. It has been running almost 24/7 from 2001 to 2011 and it's bombproof. The only thing that broke was the hard drive, and it did happen after the Mac was retired.

----------



Interesting, as you say the opposite of anyone else in this thread

not sure if i understand that completely. I am not a mac expert but i am a computer tech and the aspect of computers is the same regardless of who makes them.

The only computer i have that runs 24/7 is my OptiPlex GX270 that has been running constantly since January 3rd. It's too old and too damn slow to use for a computer so I really don't care that running it 24/7 is bad for it.

----------

I leave them runnIng. Just have them set to turn off monitors.

At work our Macs are also left running 24/7 including holidays and weekends. The G5 went 8 years that way before I had to replace the logicboard/CPU.

that right there is a prime example of why you dont leave a computer running 24/7 you cannot possibly run a computer for 8 years without a single reboot. uptime is calculated by how long it's been running since last reboot.

EDIT: Leaving a Mac run 24/7 may make it last longer tha's only because PowerPC Macs were built with the most expensive componants of the time (hence the $1000+ price tag) however dont dare do it to a Windows computer. the most youll get out of a non-apple PC running it 24/7 is 2 years. Windows PCs (premanufactured ones) generally only last 1 year before they die anyway. Having a Windows PC last more than 2 years is uncommon (under heavy use) finding one that is 4 years old and still running is even more rare

 

[Goftrey]

As a computer tech for the past 12 years

If you've been a computer tech for the last 12 years, then how on earth have you managed to create over 50 threads in the last 3 months alone, often asking questions that even relatively novice computer users would be able to answer?

 

[MatthewLTL]

If you've been a computer tech for the last 12 years, then how on earth have you managed to create over 50 threads in the last 3 months alone, often asking questions that even relatively novice computer users would be able to answer?

COMPUTER TECH not a Apple Tech there is a difference. I have been a computer tech for 12 years I have only ever USED macs (extensively) since 2012. I have never fixed a Mac. Mac's are generally more complicated in that regard.

 

[poiihy]

EDIT: Leaving a Mac run 24/7 may make it last longer tha's only because PowerPC Macs were built with the most expensive componants of the time (hence the $1000+ price tag) however dont dare do it to a Windows computer. the most youll get out of a non-apple PC running it 24/7 is 2 years. Windows PCs (premanufactured ones) generally only last 1 year before they die anyway. Having a Windows PC last more than 2 years is uncommon (under heavy use) finding one that is 4 years old and still running is even more rare

I've seen many Dell Optiplexs constantly running. I saw a video of a Dell Optiplex this guy found and it was running for a total of ~2,000 days or something. That's about 5 years running constantly. And it was perfectly fine. I can't find that video though.

----------

Hi everyone!
As these G4s are getting old, I have a question for you: do you leave them on all day and overnight or do you turn them off? Do you put them to sleep?
What's best for components? I read some time ago that powering on and off the computers is worse for components as they heat up and then cool down multiple times.
Thank you!

I don't have any PowerMac (here) to leave on so I'll talk about my MacBook Pro. I shut it down every night because of the annoying light. As for my iMac, I tend to put it to sleep after I use it a bit, because it has no annoying light, but then I don't use it in a while, so I shut it down.

 

[Arcady]

I have an iMac G3 motherboard in a rackmount case, connected to a large battery backup, which has been running continuously since late 2001.

I have had to have the batteries in the UPS replaced more times than the computer has needed to be rebooted. It has been running OS 8.5 on the original 4GB drive the entire time.

The computer was set up as a server for a small website. I closed the site in 2006, but left the computer running in the rack since I wasn't being charged for the hosting. At this point I am leaving it on just to see how long until it fails.

 

[SkyBell]

My eMac runs constantly these day. For whatever reason, the monitor often has trouble turning on and working properly if the computer has been powered off, or if allowed to enter sleep mode; but as long as the system itself is kept running, the display can be turned off and back on as needed, and works flawlessly.

I hate to put the extra wear and tear on the hardware, but honestly I'd rather have to replace just about any other component in the machine that failed because of that if it saves the CRT.

 

[A.Goldberg]

I don't even know if I've turned off my rMBP for more than a few hours in the past 11 months I've owned it.

My G5 usually sleeps as I have storage space and print serving happening. I can send a wake on LAN request to fire her up from my laptop if I'm in another room. My Mac Pro is at my parents house right now but even if it's with me or I'm with it, it says off.

EDIT: Leaving a Mac run 24/7 may make it last longer tha's only because PowerPC Macs were built with the most expensive componants of the time <snip> The most youll get out of a PC running it 24/7 is 2 years. Windows PCs (premanufactured ones) generally only last 1 year before they die anyway. Having a Windows PC last more than 2 years is uncommon (under heavy use)

Where do you get these statistics? You do realize over 90% of the worlds computers (desktops, laptops, and net books) run a version of Windows? Nearly all companies rely on Windows computers for their employees and certainly do not replace their computers every 1-2 years. Neither are your average consumers. It depends on the industry, but companies update every 4-5 and replace due to the fact they're obsolete, not broken. A bunch of companies lease too btw. Considering your newest computer is 12 years old how do you come to these conclusions?

COMPUTER TECH not a Apple Tech there is a difference. I have been a computer tech for 12 years I have only ever USED macs (extensively) since 2012.

Yes because Apple computers are... not... computers...? Right. Oh that must be why they changed their name from Apple Computer to Apple, inc. Complete misnomer for decades. So if you haven't really fixed Macs, how do you know their longevity is that much better?

My anecdotes:
My towns school system replaced their primarily G4 run computer system (i, e, and Power Macs- some G3s were about) completely with HP Pentium 4 Desktops. After 4 years they reported the PCs had less hardware problems, much cheaper repair costs, and the initial cost of the PCs was less.

My parents had a P4 Dell running In the basement of their house as a server from 2002 to 2011 20hrs/day- 6:00AM to 2:00AM. The power supply failed In like a year but other than that zero issues. I expect it still starts today. They also still have a 1996 PII Gateway that was used through ~2003. I fired it up about 2 years ago with no issues. At the time it was only 17 years old

 

[robertdsc]

I have had a PowerBook G4 1.67 and a G5 Dual 2.0 DP machine both die on me after being left on overnight. So when I am done with my evening, I turn them off.

All of my Macs are set to disable sleep and automatically shut off at midnight. Unfortunately, my Mac Pro refuses to cooperate, so I usually manually turn it off if I wake up during the night.

 

[MatthewLTL]

I don't even know if I've turned off my rMBP for more than a few hours in the past 11 months I've owned it.

My G5 usually sleeps as I have storage space and print serving happening. I can send a wake on LAN request to fire her up from my laptop if I'm in another room. My Mac Pro is at my parents house right now but even if it's with me or I'm with it, it says off.



Where do you get these statistics? You do realize over 90% of the worlds computers (desktops, laptops, and net books) run a version of Windows? Nearly all companies rely on Windows computers for their employees and certainly do not replace their computers every 1-2 years. Neither are your average consumers. It depends on the industry, but companies update every 4-5 and replace due to the fact they're obsolete, not broken. A bunch of companies lease too btw. Considering your newest computer is 12 years old how do you come to these conclusions?


Yes because Apple computers are... not... computers...? Right. Oh that must be why they changed their name from Apple Computer to Apple, inc. Complete misnomer for decades. So if you haven't really fixed Macs, how do you know their longevity is that much better?

My anecdotes:
My towns school system replaced their primarily G4 run computer system (i, e, and Power Macs- some G3s were about) completely with HP Pentium 4 Desktops. After 4 years they reported the PCs had less hardware problems, much cheaper repair costs, and the initial cost of the PCs was less.

My parents had a P4 Dell running In the basement of their house as a server from 2002 to 2011 20hrs/day- 6:00AM to 2:00AM. The power supply failed In like a year but other than that zero issues. I expect it still starts today. They also still have a 1996 PII Gateway that was used through ~2003. I fired it up about 2 years ago with no issues. At the time it was only 17 years old

1. Rather easily. We bought our 1st computer in 2001 It was a Gateway running the then brand new Windows ME OS. after a year it started to fail. (Anyone who has used Windows ME knows how unstable it is) this lead to constant need to hard reboot and the power light stayed orange and would never POST after 3 months it got to the point there was no hope for it and it never POSTed again. Dead. We saved the RAM CPU and HDD (The HDD Died soon after).

So we bought a brand new 1.7GHz eMachines desktop that lasted for another year BEFORE it started doing the SAME THING. It was replaced under the Best Buy Warranty lemon law FREE of charge. The replacement eMachines lasted from 2005-2012.

In 2005 I got my first new computer. It was a Compaq Presario SR1303WM complete with 17" CRT Monitor. Had Windows XP home, 40GB HDD and a Combo DVD drive. It crashed after 15 days after I put a DVD Burner in it to make restore DVDs. So it sat for a couple of weeks as my mom called around trying to find a place to fix it than a friend at school gave me a copy of RedHat Enterprise Linux Fedora Core 3 and I used that for a few months until he gave me a copy of Windows 2000 which i used from then on. I Upgraded the RAM and bought a better GPU (Radeon 9550) for the computer (this was shortly after DDR2 came out) and then it died a month later. Technically the board still works but it refuses any OS.

in 2006 we bought 2 Compaq Presario C303NR laptops. nothing but problems with those they both died after 2 years mine (Still working) had a new motherboard put in it after 2 years and needed a new battery, charger, screen, CPU fan, hinges AND DVD Drive just 1 month before the warranty ran out. I built my own computer in 2008. It was nothing but problems and died 4 years later. by car the longest lasting NEW computer we ever had.

My iMac G3 is the only Mac i have had die on me though (the other two i tore apart because I had no use for them)

2. You need to be certified by Apple to work on Apple PCs you don't need to be certified by Microsoft to work on Windows PCs.