Do you turn your M3 iMac off at night

[Jackbequickly]

OR do you just let is stay in sleep mode?

Advantages, disadvantages?

 

[FreakinEurekan]

Sleep.

 

[ger19]

I just leave mine in sleep mode. Not sure of any advantages other than a quicker startup time, including not having to type in my password - it just come up with the fingerprint reader.

 

[mapleleafer]

Off. I'm not allowed to say why.

 

[colodane]

I just turn the display off rather than sleeping it. Has worked fine that way for 7 years now.

 

[colodane]

Edit: Just realized that you were asking specifically about the M3.

I have no direct experience with that iMac, but assume that it would behave equally well. My iMac has the Intel CPU.

 

[orbital~debris]

😴 mode all the way on my green 🖥️

I miss the 'breathing' sleep light on Macs of yore.

 

[Fishrrman]

From the beginning (1987), I've ALWAYS turned my Macs off at night.

But...
I go even further than that.

My desktop Mac (a Mini) and accessories are plugged into a surge supressor/power strip.
When I'm done at night, I not only power down the Mac, after it shuts off I reach down and flip off the entire power strip, to "cut it from the mains".

In the morning, I turn the power strip back on, then press the Mac's power-on button.

I've done it this way for 37 years now.
Guess I'll be doing that until the end...

 

[coffeemilktea]

I only turn mine off when I leave the house... otherwise, I just let it sleep.

 

[Fuzzball84]

I don’t turn it off. But put it to sleep and tuck it into bed after reading it a night time horror story about Apple Silicon heaven. A place where all Apple Silicon goes after its useful life is over, which scarily for the Mac could be only a couple years.

 

[leman]

There is very little point in turning off these computers, unless you are going in a trip or need to transport them.

 

[ZebedeeG]

My M1 iMac and I both sleep at night...

I snore, it doesn't!

 

[Timpetus]

My Macs are all either on all the time or asleep. They do start up quickly, but waking from sleep is near-instant, and they use so little power while asleep that it really doesn't matter. Do whatever you prefer, makes very little difference.

 

[kagharaht]

I Let it run 24/7 the screen turns off in 10 min. Uses about 5 watts in that mode. That’s what I usually do. This time, after my erase and set up new, I’ve experimented and let it default sleep in 10min. So far nothing has crashed or drives disconnecting! Knock in Fake Wood. LOL. Oh iMac M3.

 

[TVreporter]

Always sleep mode

 

[ignatius345]

OR do you just let is stay in sleep mode?

Sleep

Advantages, disadvantages?

Advantages:
- it's always ready to use in like 5 seconds
- everything I was working on is still open
- MacOS automatic maintenance scripts keep running
- backup keeps happening
- Mail and iCloud sync keep current
- it's available to stream my video library to my Apple TV

Disadvantages:
- it uses a very tiny amount more electricity

 

[Doctor Q]

I let the Mac sleep and I switch off my wireless mouse and wireless keyboard, to preserve their charges.

I've always assumed that the mouse and keyboard lose some charge if left on, even when not in use, but I guess I don't know that for certain!

 

[Jay-Jacob]

I don’t have M3 iMac but I used have iMac 21.5 2013 and now I have M1 studio Mac. I always leave it on sleep, even I am away since I want it be updated to match iPhone and iPad like iMessage, photos, mail, etc etc. Just easier have it on sleep.

 

[Zmmyt]

💤

 

[Significant1]

Always use sleep, unless it is an extended period of time you will not use it.

 

[JamesMay82]

Always use sleep, unless it is an extended period of time you will not use it.

Same. If it’s going to be more than 2 days I’ll shut down on desktop. My laptop tends to be permanently left in sleep mode though.

 

[Jackbequickly]

According to my UPS my M3 is only using about 1 watt while sleeping which is remarkable considering it wakes up if I say “Hey Siri!”

 

[Plutonius]

There is very little point in turning off these computers, unless you are going in a trip or need to transport them.

Even in sleep mode they consume some power. It may not be much but it adds up if you never turn the computer off.

No reason not to turn them off since they boot up so quickly.

 

[Nermal]

Mine's not M3, but I leave it on. Some nights I go to bed early and potter around on my laptop, in which case I leave the iMac on so I can access its shared folders*. If I don't expect to be doing that, then I put it to sleep.

*It's supposed to let you do this when it's asleep (Power Nap or some such) but it's so reliable.

 

[CalMin]

From the beginning (1987), I've ALWAYS turned my Macs off at night.

But...
I go even further than that.

My desktop Mac (a Mini) and accessories are plugged into a surge supressor/power strip.
When I'm done at night, I not only power down the Mac, after it shuts off I reach down and flip off the entire power strip, to "cut it from the mains".

In the morning, I turn the power strip back on, then press the Mac's power-on button.

I've done it this way for 37 years now.
Guess I'll be doing that until the end...

My dad does that with everything electrical in the house. It drives me crazy every time I visit to see the microwave and anything else with a clock flashing "00:00" constantly. Back in the day he did it with the VCR which was uber annoying any time I wanted to record a show.

... wait a second. Dad, is that you?