Do you turn off your MacBook Air?

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Are storms an issue for anyone! Have you ever had a computer fried because of a storm?

I suppose that's not a problem in developed countries

 

[WilliamLondon]

Just got it in the mail. I'm loving it so far. It's really fast compared to my '09 MBP. I don't think I'll be turning it off much either.

Congrats, I'm sure you'll love yours. I've got a new 11" which I love. I never turn it off, I just close the lid, and I also pull the power cord out - not sure it's still this way with batteries, but if you always run it off power, it'll wear the battery down faster. I used to have my laptops' batteries replaced about once per year when my work computer was a laptop and I was using it all the time.

I turn off all my computers when not in actual use. There are back doors on all our machines that the authorities and our ruling corporations can access.

It is also important to use several different and rotating hard drives at with different OS's for startup and use different wireless networks during the day.

I have one computer that never goes on line to consolidate. The wi-fi card has been physically disabled.

Really? The authorities told me that was illegal when they last came to do their monthly "maintenance sweep" of my house and all my electronic devices.

 

[CoMoMacUser]

I turn off all my computers when not in actual use. There are back doors on all our machines that the authorities and our ruling corporations can access.

I named my Wi-Fi router "FBI Surveillance Van No. 3."

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Have you ever had a computer fried because of a storm?

No, but I know people who have, along with all of the other electronics in their home, including the fridge and furnace.

 

[psxp]

I have found since getting my MBA about 3 weeks ago that I am not turning it off and basically leaving it on all the time and letting the display dim and not soon thereafter the computer goes to sleep the way I have my settings. Also because I feel less likely to get virus attacks, while away or sleeping with OSX.

My only concern is and has always been when a thunderstorm comes through my area. Yes I have it plugged into a surge protector but storms have always freaked me out. I feel like if we get a powers surge or the power goes out and than comes back on it might damage the computer. Especially those storms that turn the power off and back on several times when the power company transformers are trying to fix the situation and struggle to figure out if they can beat the storm or not!

Are storms an issue for anyone! Have you ever had a computer fried because of a storm?

Use a UPS to keep the power clean to your devices! Worth it- trust me

 

[tekno]

Because Apple still haven't created a useful, non-annoying screen lock, I turn mine off when I leave the house with it, so if it were to be stolen the thief wouldn't be able to access my files.

 

[jerryobr]

I never power down my Macs

Since the Mac OS has been unix based when OS X first came out, I have always let my Macs just run; I'll put them to sleep when I am not using them, but I never power them down. There is no need to. Any unix based computer works best by letting unix run. This is not like Windows at all. My past experience with Windows is that a daily restart is necessary or performance degrades. I've had Macs of all sorts (all OS X of various flavors) run for 3-6 months without the need for a reboot.

 

[wolfpuppies3]

Yes, at the end of the day.

 

[potvkettle]

Proof?

Technically the iPad/iPod don't have power buttons. The so called OFF button is to disable the home button and touchscreen to avoid unintended wake ups.

Powernap updates the specific applications tied to it in the background -- no need to schedule. If an update occurs, email received, etc., it's pushed to your device.

PowerNap doesn't sound like a full-fledge scheduler. Am hoping there is a third-party that would do this, haven't researched.

Again, something built-in since WinXP, runs anything at a scheduled time and wakes up the machine to do so, every time or on AC only. OSX seems to be behind on certain things.

Or, am I missing something?

PS -- to OP, turn my off occasionally, but not for any one specific purpose, other than to save battery after a charge. For instance, I charge the night before, take it of the charger and shut it down, so that I have a full battery first thing in the morning for the whole day.

 

[jahala]

Are storms an issue for anyone! Have you ever had a computer fried because of a storm?

Yes, it was not only fried, it actually exploded when lightning came down the chimney, bounced off the steel hearthplate and entered the house wiring through nearby power outlet. Lots of appliances were taken out of commission that night.

We added a lightning-rated surge protector to the main breaker box.

 

[skinny*k]

Are storms an issue for anyone! Have you ever had a computer fried because of a storm?

A few years ago some tree-trimmers knocked out a powerline down the street, and that took out electronics all over the neighborhood, including my 20th Anniversary Mac, which was plugged into a power strip but not turned on. The tree-trimmers were a fly-by-night—unlicensed and uninsured—so everyone got stuck.

 

[crazyxzer0]

I never turn it off as in shut it down. I do close my lid to put it to sleep. I also changed the standby mode to 20minutes to save a little more battery. I do use my laptop everyday so battery drain during standby mode wasn't too big of a deal.

 

[blesscheese]

Rarely.

Some what off topic...

Genius did tell me when I saw them last week about Tethering issues not to leave her Plugged all the time or overnight. I use an External Monitor, which is why I do but now before I go to bed I unplugged her.

Re: the topic question, I rarely turn it off...which is kinda ridiculous, since it boots up so fast, but I have always just slept my 'books since my first one (PowerBook 5300, since you ask).

Re: the off-topic question, huh? As long as you run the battery down every week or two, leaving it plugged in won't harm the battery. My MBA is 3 years old now, and I still get over 3.5 hours of use with it, and it is plugged in *all* the time unless I am traveling, or running it down.

Note that unplugging it, running it down, and then recharging it on a daily basis will wear it more quickly than just charging it up as needed. The battery has about ?500? charge cycles of life, so you may run through it in 2 years. But, it is an easy fix.

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I suppose that's not a problem in developed countries

In an electrical storm, the current will flow down the past of least resistance...power cords, phone lines, ethernet cables, anything connected to anything that will conduct.

My sister (from the 3rd-world country of Westchester, NY) had a computer fried by a printer cable...the computer was plugged into a surge protector, but, the printer wasn't, so when the lightening hit both got toasted.

 

[flynz4]

My recommendation is to turn it off when traveling... and also enable File Vault 2. My understanding is that FV2 is much more secure from a cold start than from a "sleep" cycle.

I do this when my machine will be left unattended in my hotel room (even if it in the [insecure] in-room safe). This way... if my MBA is stollen... I only lose the machine... and not my identity.

/Jim

 

[jetlagged]

so the majority of people here seems liek they dont turn it off. but this topic kind of confuses me.

do you leave it on constantly or put it in sleep mode?

i have a dell laptop, and i usually put it on hibernate. can somebody shed some light.

 

[glsillygili]

I only turn it off to use Bootcamp.

same

 

[littfam]

No.

 

[ET iPhone Home]

I have in on Sleep when not in use. I may turn it OFF once every 3 weeks, otherwise it gets buggy.

 

[kylera]

I just shut down for Boot Camp, which is like, once a month or so, as well as OS updates. Other than that, lid down.

 

[OnceYouGoMac]

Yeah I turn mine off every night before I go to bed. I do the same with my Pro.

 

[Lukewarmwinner]

Why isn't there an option for "sleep"? I always let it sleep. Doing it with all my macs.

 

[ChristianVirtual]

I turn it off since once I kept it in a bag and somehow the lid was open a bit. The MBA was running the whole time inside the bag, the fan run crazy and I felt sorry for the chips. It got really really hot.
Since then I tend to switch it of before putting into a bag. In other cases just sleep mode. Pure user error.

 

[gnasher729]

I suppose that's not a problem in developed countries

It absolutely is. Less nowadays, because the biggest problem was phone line connecting directly to the computer before the days of Broadband. The power supply on a modern Mac is designed to work between 100 Volt and 270 Volt, so it's quite resistant to power fluctuations - even more so in any Mac using batteries. But the power supply can also withstand a certain amount of abuse and will protect your Mac. Voltage coming in through other connectors is much more dangerous. Anyway, being in a developed country doesn't protect you at all.

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so the majority of people here seems liek they dont turn it off. but this topic kind of confuses me.

do you leave it on constantly or put it in sleep mode?

i have a dell laptop, and i usually put it on hibernate. can somebody shed some light.

You just close the lid.

The MacBook goes to sleep for about an hour. If you open the lid within that hour, it is ready immediately. Macbooks with SSD drives go into a "deep sleep" mode after that; all the memory is written to the SSD drive, then power is turned off. That way the Mac can stay asleep for 30 days. When you open the lid it takes a bit longer until the Mac is ready, because it has to read its memory back from SSD.

Macbooks with spinning drives don't do that because reading the memory back from disk would be too slow. However, when the Macbook detects that it is running out of battery power, it will then do the same thing. Waking up the Mac will take longer, but better than losing data because you ran out of power.

My recommendation is to turn it off when traveling... and also enable File Vault 2. My understanding is that FV2 is much more secure from a cold start than from a "sleep" cycle.

Filevault is always a good idea if your Mac contains sensitive information that you wouldn't want a thief to read. In that case you would also want to set up a password to enter when the Mac wakes up from sleep. Shutting down the MacBook with Filevault has the advantage that a hacker has to figure out two passwords (Mac password + Filevault password) to get to your data.

No sleep password: Thief can read your data.
Sleep password: Thief needs to figure out your login password.
Shutdown: Thief needs to figure out your login password plus your Filevault password.

 

[jojoba]

Yes, at the end of the day.

This. It's just an ingrained habit.

 

[jabingla2810]

I turn off all my computers when not in actual use. There are back doors on all our machines that the authorities and our ruling corporations can access.

It is also important to use several different and rotating hard drives at with different OS's for startup and use different wireless networks during the day.

I have one computer that never goes on line to consolidate. The wi-fi card has been physically disabled.

LOL, thats absolutely mental.

 

[camitampa]

Are storms an issue for anyone! Have you ever had a computer fried because of a storm?

I live in Tampa, Florida and I have had plenty of lightning damage over the years. I actually had the verizon fios modem hit while the fios installer was here installing it. It took out my ethernet card and fried the fios modem.

I unplug June through September. I always unplug my MBA, but I just put it to sleep as it never goes more than two days without being used.