Never, unless I have to or the system starts acting flaky enough it needs it. I cant even remember the last time I regularly started up and shut down my computer.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
How often do you turn your Mini off?
- Thread starter Sarah Hamilton
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I have a lot of 32-bit applications and plugins I use. Sadly Mojave on my Mini will be the last OS it sees.
That may have to do with the variable destruction of heat index. The fan in the Mini is pretty powerful considering it’s size but it does occasionally heat up with heavy video editing and such. You’re probably wise to turn one off and let it cool while using the other. Personally I send mine into sleep mode anytime I walk away from the monitor.
They were sold as a server version in the past, and are often running headless in a cabinet. The low energy use and small size is ideal.
Now the Mac mini is just a household device, and Apple never says it's designed to run 24/7.
even we can run 24/7 actually.
What's the point of being powered on if you are not using it? To save some precious seconds that it takes to boot? In the old days a machine could take minutes to boot, nowadays is really fast, I don't see the point. It's just wasting energy and there are also potential risks of fire/storms. I switch everything off while going to sleep, and turn it on in the afternoon after work.
The energy needed when booting up is about 10000 times greater than in hibernation mode. It is by turning on and off that you are wasting energy.
It is designed to run 24/7, and what really degrades electronics is the tear and wear when you switch between cold and hot states.
Leave it on.
In addition to what @macdos said, I have a lot of background apps like Adobe CC, Dropbox, Avid, etc. that all have to initialize after login, on top of 8 external drives as well (which slows down the process) as well as a plethora of peripherals. It’s a whole thing shutting down and turning on again. It’s just easier to leave it on as they were intended anyways, and I can sit at my computer and start working on a project at anytime.
Modern Macs use only fractionally more power asleep than they do when off. And it's very little in either case. Given how much work they have to do on boot, I agree with macdos that you're probably using more power booting up every day than leaving the computer on.
Oh that lovely feeling when you go turn on a machine and one of the electrolytic caps blows its lid from sitting dormant and drying out and getting a sudden surge of of electricity..
In the late 80s when working at a video store (VHS rentals!) we had a late 70s microwave in the break room. Had a physical dial that you would turn to the desired time, and when you let go, it would start the microwave.
a coworker got a microwave radiation detector… damn thing was leaking very detectable radiation six feet away.
good times.
Yeah, bragging about a 1985 microwave does not impress me
Never, sleep off, connected to a UPS, runs a number of applications, the main one is surveillance software. Only get rebooted for updates.
Same here, I am using a 30-year-old microwave. The new one I got [Gorenje brand] went in smokes just one month after the warranty expired, good thing I didn't throw away the old microwave, Sharp brand.