If heating up and cooling down is bad...

[MisterEd]

...Then should I set my iMac to go to sleep after a longer period of time? I know that sleeping is better that shutting down and and starting up all the time, but surely going to sleep and waking up a lot will mean a big change in heat.
Would it be better to let my machine stay on and to just set the display to turn off?

Thanks for the advice
Ed

 

[Temujin]

...Then should I set my iMac to go to sleep after a longer period of time? I know that sleeping is better that shutting down and and starting up all the time, but surely going to sleep and waking up a lot will mean a big change in heat.
Would it be better to let my machine stay on and to just set the display to turn off?

Thanks for the advice
Ed

You really shouldn't need to worry. Your iMac came with the capability to sleep, so using the feature is per definition not harmful.

If the temperature would go from 0 to 50 degrees celsius in the matter of seconds then it would be another story. In reality the change in temperature happens over a much longer period of time, which won't harm your system at all.

So go ahead and use the sleep feature, that's what it's there for.