Is it 'bad' to never shut an iMac down, but instead sleep it? I don't believe that its 'bad' for the computer... But a lot of people I know in real life think it is for some reason.
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Is it 'bad' to never shut an iMac down, but instead sleep it?
- Thread starter mrsir2009
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Shut Down?
No it won't. Lion will put Mac to sleep, and then to hibernation. It will NOT shut it down unless you choose the shut down option explicitly. I shut down the computer (or restart) once in a while to clear the memory, however, it is not harmful to put the computer to sleep as opposed to shutting it down.
Unless of course you're running Lion. Then it will shut down by itself.
No it won't. Lion will put Mac to sleep, and then to hibernation. It will NOT shut it down unless you choose the shut down option explicitly. I shut down the computer (or restart) once in a while to clear the memory, however, it is not harmful to put the computer to sleep as opposed to shutting it down.
i never have shut down a Mac i always put them to sleep ,no need to shut down , think about it this way you go to sleep too and your heart is still pumping and there is no need to switch that off either
There are good technical reasons why the iMac should be put to sleep and not completely switched off.
For example when power is initially applied to electronic equipment such as computers, TV's, amplifiers etc, there is a large power surge, particularly through the PSU components, until the circuit stabilises. This initial surge puts considerable strain on the relevant components which can reduce their total active life.
For example when power is initially applied to electronic equipment such as computers, TV's, amplifiers etc, there is a large power surge, particularly through the PSU components, until the circuit stabilises. This initial surge puts considerable strain on the relevant components which can reduce their total active life.
But is there a difference on puting mac to sleep from 
and then sleep, than letting the mac go to sleep itself?
and then sleep, than letting the mac go to sleep itself?
My iMac hasn't been shutdown since the day I got it, back in 2009 and is working flawlessly. I put it to sleep everything, though.
Problem is you forget to think this way: Once your heart shut down, there's no switch to turn it back on, while on iMac you can still do it.
I hardly shut down my iMac too, sleep is fine for me. It's just you use quite funky analogy
OSX hasnt used crons since Tiger...Leo and SL use Launchd.
If your machine is running they will run automatically thru the day, but only if your machine has been running for more than 3 days or more...
If you restart your machine you dont need to run lanuchd at all.
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youve not updated any software at all on your mac to cause you to need a restart since 2009???
my advice to you is to repair some permissions and restart your mac today...you might think its flawless at the moment...
I don't think it's bad to just sleep the Mac. It's more a personal preference.
I usually shutdown my Macs when I know I'm going to be away from a few hours or more. Nice to save on the utility bill.
I usually shutdown my Macs when I know I'm going to be away from a few hours or more. Nice to save on the utility bill.
I hope you've at least restarted it for updates. Otherwise you really need to run software update and install the many updates you've missed.
Yes, assuming you're away from your computer 16 hours out of the day, you'll save about 5 cents a month on your utility bill by shutting down as opposed to sleeping!
Sure, I'll reboot occasionally for patching, but my MBP has never been shutdown for more then a few mins in the last 4.5 years.
Still, it's personal preference. Mac's tend to be be very low power while sleeping, but also bootup very quickly. Either method is fine.
(Every few months I do make an exception and leave it off overnight to calibrate the battery)
Still, it's personal preference. Mac's tend to be be very low power while sleeping, but also bootup very quickly. Either method is fine.
(Every few months I do make an exception and leave it off overnight to calibrate the battery)
My english is not so good
I meant that i never Power my Mac completely off, of course I have restanted the thing, but I only restart my Mac when there is a software update or a new OS like Lion
.In other words, I always use the sleep option and everything is fine
Usually shut mine down if i know im going to not need it for a day. Happens once every 2 weeks or so. Machine is 4 years old now so theres no harm in leaving it sleeping.
Unless of course you're running Lion. Then it will shut down by itself.
More FUD about Lion. It does NOT shut the computer down by itself.
The right answer is:
NO, you don't ever need to shut your computer down, unless you are absolutely paranoid about energy consumption or surges, or leaving for a long vacation - apart from such cases, sleeping is absolutely fine on Lion or any other version of Mac OS X.
According to this page... http://www.tuaw.com/2009/11/27/apples-mac-mini-tops-chart-of-green-computers/ ...a 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Mac mini uses 1.71 watts when sleeping. Wow... that's low. Heh, but it uses 0.94 watts when turned off. That's roughly 1 watt per hour of power savings.
Where I'm at, a kilowatt hour is roughly 20¢. I use my computer a lot more than 8 hours a day, but I'll use 16 hours in the calculation.
1 Watt x 16 hours x 30 days = 480 Watts a month.
Heh, I'd save close to 10 cents. I thought five cents might have been an exaggeration. Apparently, it's not.
Yet, I don't always shut down my computer. It's like once every few days. That's because of what I see in the Activity Monitor. After a while, the "Used" RAM doesn't drop as low as it should — even if all the applications are quit. It seems to me that my computer is more stable... and even a bit faster... after a restart. The Mac is a lot faster to reboot than my PC, so I don't mind shutting it down so much.
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