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GuitarG20

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 3, 2011
1,020
1
17" Early 2011 MBP, 2.2 i7, 8 Gigs ram (1333 MHz I think), 750 GB 5400RPM drive.

It takes my MBP 10-15 seconds to go to sleep sometimes. In comparison, my friend (with a 13") says hers can go to sleep in 5 or less seconds (and I've witnessed it)

So how long does it take your MBP to go to sleep? Is my time abnormal? What can I check about this?

Thanks!

PS that time is from when i close the lid to when the LED on the front starts pulsing (i can hear the fans and HDD stop spinning at the same time)
 
Last edited:

GGJstudios

macrumors Westmere
May 16, 2008
44,545
943
It depends on what all you have running at the time, and is also affected by what kind of drive and how much RAM you have. Since the contents of RAM are written to disk before sleeping, having more RAM takes longer to write. Also, writing to a SSD would obviously be faster than to a 5400 drive.
 

AdeFowler

macrumors 68020
Aug 27, 2004
2,317
361
England
Mine varies. Sometimes it's instant, sometimes 20+ seconds. I can't figure out why this is. This is running 10.7.2. Under Snow Leopard it was always instant.
 

thundersteele

macrumors 68030
Oct 19, 2011
2,984
9
Switzerland
@OP: A few seconds, maybe 5-10. Got a SSD.

What effect does this have on the computer? What is the cache useful for?

I would also like to know this. Also, how do you do it.

I believe it means that the RAM content is not written to the HD. For normal sleep/wake up operation, this will not make any difference, however, if the laptop runs out of battery while asleep, it goes to a deeper sleep state where the RAM is powered off, and after wake up (and plugging in a power cable), it restores the previous session from the HD (takes a few seconds). If you disable this feature, if you run out of battery while sleeping, the Mac will reboot and the previous session is not restored.

I'm interested in this because the sleepimage occupies 4GB (and soon 8GB) on my 128 GB SSD.
 

Steve's Barber

macrumors 6502a
Jul 5, 2011
773
1
What effect does this have on the computer? What is the cache useful for?
The effect? Well, for one you don't have to wait for OSX to dump your RAM to the hard drive and it sleeps faster. Speed wasn't an issue for me though. I just disabled it to minimize the writes to my SSD.

The only drawback is if you lose power during sleep (a damn near impossibility), anything you had open at the time will be lost since it wasn't written to the drive.

To be honest, I don't sleep the mac much anymore since a cold boot only takes 9 seconds. :D

I'm interested in this because the sleepimage occupies 4GB (and soon 8GB) on my 128 GB SSD.

Go here and consider tweaks 1-3
 

thundersteele

macrumors 68030
Oct 19, 2011
2,984
9
Switzerland
The effect? Well, for one you don't have to wait for OSX to dump your RAM to the hard drive and it sleeps faster. Speed wasn't an issue for me though. I just disabled it to minimize the writes to my SSD.

The only drawback is if you lose power during sleep (a damn near impossibility), anything you had open at the time will be lost since it wasn't written to the drive.

To be honest, I don't sleep the mac much anymore since a cold boot only takes 9 seconds. :D

So uhm, how do you disable the sleep image? Just by deleting it?
 

iThinkergoiMac

macrumors 68030
Jan 20, 2010
2,664
4
Terra
2 seconds. I disabled the sleep cache.

I disabled hibernate mode (what you're really referring to), and mine doesn't even take 2 seconds. 1/2 second max, and I doubt it's even that. EDIT: That sounded really pretentious. What I meant is that "hibernate mode" is how Apple refers to it, so I was attempting to clarify.

The only drawback is if you lose power during sleep (a damn near impossibility), anything you had open at the time will be lost since it wasn't written to the drive.

If you're running Lion, even this doesn't happen. Provided all your apps are Versions-aware, you won't lose any work and Lion will relaunch everything when you turn it back on.

I use SmartSleep, which disables the hibernate mode above a certain threshold (I set mine at 10% battery level) and enables it below that threshold.
 

ThomasBoss

macrumors regular
Jun 12, 2011
147
0
Like 10 seconds after trying it out...

Not a problem for me really, if I flip my computer down it means I'm not going to use it for a while.
 

Steve's Barber

macrumors 6502a
Jul 5, 2011
773
1
I disabled hibernate mode (what you're really referring to),
Yes, you're right of course. "Hibernate".

If you're running Lion, even this doesn't happen. Provided all your apps are Versions-aware, you won't lose any work and Lion will relaunch everything when you turn it back on.

I'm back to Snow Leopard. At times I forget that people still use Lion. :D:)
 

Nychot

macrumors 6502a
Aug 15, 2011
790
71
I have an early 2011 base 13" and if i have something on screen and close it it goes to sleep instantly. The apple light on top goes out.
 

GGJstudios

macrumors Westmere
May 16, 2008
44,545
943
I have an early 2011 base 13" and if i have something on screen and close it it goes to sleep instantly. The apple light on top goes out.
The Apple logo light going out doesn't mean your Mac is asleep. It only means the screen backlight is off. It takes some time to write to disk before it enters sleep mode, indicated by a pulsing light on the front of the MBP. Until that light begins to slowly pulse, your MBP isn't in sleep mode.
 

bobcan

macrumors 6502a
Jan 8, 2007
680
5
Sunny but Cold.. Canada
Cmnd + Option + Eject

I've always (since I've known about it) used the three key 'CMND + Option + Eject' way of Hibernating my MBP..

Pretty instantaneous and I never have to wonder if it is working yet.. :apple:
 
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