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iMac powered on 24/7?

C

carrerascott

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 18, 2009
241
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I work from home and leave my computer on 24/7, using it a good portion of the time. Will an iMac handle this ok? I was considering the Mac Pro but it's close to twice the price for similar performance for my needs when the monitor etc are considered.

Thanks for any input.
 
yea u should be fine. That is what I do with my old vintage iMac. However, I replaced the HDD with an SSD so less moving parts and prolly will last longer if I had the HDD running 24/7.
 
carrerascott said:
I work from home and leave my computer on 24/7, using it a good portion of the time. Will an iMac handle this ok? I was considering the Mac Pro but it's close to twice the price for similar performance for my needs when the monitor etc are considered.

Thanks for any input.
Click to expand...

I have left mine on 24/7 for the past 7+ years, no problems with it at all!
 
carrerascott said:
I work from home and leave my computer on 24/7, using it a good portion of the time. Will an iMac handle this ok? I was considering the Mac Pro but it's close to twice the price for similar performance for my needs when the monitor etc are considered.

Thanks for any input.
Click to expand...

What do you think there is to "handle" ? My 2009 iMac was on constantly (it would sleep when I wasn't using it) but so also was the PC before that for 3-4 years and a PC before that for maybe 5 years.
My new imac is also on all the time but I've gone for an SSD so the are no moving parts apart from the fan (and that comes on rarely).
Switching off and on is far more stressful, due to thermal expansion and contraction, than leaving on all the time.
 
You can always just set a hot corner to sleep the display only, saves some electricity and heat at least.
 
I have had at least 5 iMacs going back to the original half ball with articulated arm and they all stayed on 24/7. I've only had a power supply go out on a 2008 24" last year and that was after 5 years so I wasn't too surprised...

I make mine sleep after 20 minutes but sometimes extend that for up to 3 hours if downloading something. I do tend to feel the top of the machine when I get up in the morning to see if it is hot or cold. Hot means that something prevented it from sleeping and I check it out before leaving it the next night.
 
Might be some issues initially if you send the computer to sleep

This may not be an issue for you as you say you will be leaving the machine on 24/7 which I take to mean you will not be allowing it to sleep; however, if you wanted to save some energy by sending the computer to sleep then you may have a problem.

I have a 2007 24" iMac upgraded to run Mavericks and have just taken delivery of a 27" model which is obviously running Mavericks out the box.

I have no trouble leaving the old iMac on all the time with the energy settings set to send the display and computer to sleep. When I return to use the machine a quick wiggle of the mouse or tap on the keyboard wakes it up okay.

I immediately had a problem with the new iMac using these settings. After it goes to sleep there is no way to wake it up and the only solution is to reset it by holding the power button on the back. My temporary workaround is to just send the display to sleep and check the box in the energy settings that prevents the computer going to sleep but this isn't a solution in the long run.

I've checked various forums and this seems to be a common problem at the moment so it's just a case of waiting for a fix from Apple.
 
I don't want it to sleep other than the monitor going dark. Want it to keep working (getting emails etc) 24/7.

Landor said:
This may not be an issue for you as you say you will be leaving the machine on 24/7 which I take to mean you will not be allowing it to sleep; however, if you wanted to save some energy by sending the computer to sleep then you may have a problem.

I have a 2007 24" iMac upgraded to run Mavericks and have just taken delivery of a 27" model which is obviously running Mavericks out the box.

I have no trouble leaving the old iMac on all the time with the energy settings set to send the display and computer to sleep. When I return to use the machine a quick wiggle of the mouse or tap on the keyboard wakes it up okay.

I immediately had a problem with the new iMac using these settings. After it goes to sleep there is no way to wake it up and the only solution is to reset it by holding the power button on the back. My temporary workaround is to just send the display to sleep and check the box in the energy settings that prevents the computer going to sleep but this isn't a solution in the long run.

I've checked various forums and this seems to be a common problem at the moment so it's just a case of waiting for a fix from Apple.
Click to expand...


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Bear said:
Do have it set to sleep the display. That cuts down on the heat generated among other things.
Click to expand...

Yeah definitely will have the screen sleep, not the rest of the computer though.
 
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