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Is it better for my Mac to sleep or stay awake?

hexonxonx said:
Not exactly true. If you put a laptop into sleep mode, it will use a small amount of battery power to preserve it's sleep state. The same thing applies while sleeping a desktop, they still use a small amount of power. Read the FAQ that was linked to in this thread, it says the same thing.
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You misunderstood me. Yes, they continue to power the RAM in sleep mode but the machine ALSO dumps the RAM contents to the hard disk when entering sleep mode just in case the machine should lose power before waking. This is called safe sleep mode.

You were advising all those with desktop iMacs they should have PSUs in order to avoid data loss from a power interruption while sleeping. I'm telling you this is not a concern any longer.
 
LouisBlack said:
It's just my oppinion but I think this is a pretty irresponsible position. With everyone worrying about energy usage, it's sad that someone can't wait 10 seconds for a computer to wake up or 30-40 seconds to boot up.

Sorry... went a bit eco warrior there...
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I completely agree. Leaving a non-server desktop on 24/7 is irresponsible and totally ridiculous. Not to mention the money you would be saving on your power bill as well as increasing the overall life of the machine.
 
emt1 said:
I completely agree. Leaving a non-server desktop on 24/7 is irresponsible and totally ridiculous. Not to mention the money you would be saving on your power bill as well as increasing the overall life of the machine.
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Actually, that's not right. More stress is placed on electronic components when you turn them on and off rather than leave them on, due to a quick surge of electricity that goes through them when powering up.


I sleep my iMac (unless I'm torrenting) when I go to bed, but during the day, I leave it on.
 
LouisBlack said:
It's just my oppinion but I think this is a pretty irresponsible position. With everyone worrying about energy usage, it's sad that someone can't wait 10 seconds for a computer to wake up or 30-40 seconds to boot up.

Sorry... went a bit eco warrior there...
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Actually my energy supply company provides my electrical power from wind and small hydroelectric sources only.
 
SaSaSushi said:
In BROOKLYN?? Wow, I didn't know you could get off Con Ed's grid in any of the five boroughs.:p

Are you sure about that??
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I believe that most New York City and other downstate New York residents can choose their own energy supply company, and several companies offer green power options. The kicker is that Con Ed is still the delivery guy, and you still pay for that.
 
I put my MBP to sleep multiple times during the day.

Pretty much whenever I'll be away from it for more than 30-60 minutes.

Seems to work fine.

I shut it off when driving home on the weekends (~2 hr drive) just for peace of mind
 
I've had issues with RAM usage getting significantly higher the longer I keep my MBP on. Is this normal? Even if I have closed all applications, the RAM will still be basically half used (I have 2gb) if the computer has been on (even in sleep mode) for more than a few hours. This is extremely annoying when I want to do some serious multitasking, as I'm almost always forced to restart my computer to get the RAM usage back down to only a fourth or so.

Is there a way I can avoid this?
 
mreg376 said:
I believe that most New York City and other downstate New York residents can choose their own energy supply company, and several companies offer green power options. The kicker is that Con Ed is still the delivery guy, and you still pay for that.
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OK, I stand corrected. Thanks for the info. I lived in Elmhurst, Queens and had Con Ed but then again that was 20 years ago.
 
asmallchild said:
I put my MBP to sleep multiple times during the day.

Pretty much whenever I'll be away from it for more than 30-60 minutes.

Seems to work fine.

I shut it off when driving home on the weekends (~2 hr drive) just for peace of mind
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I have no issues with putting laptops to sleep. One -- they have an finite power supply, unless you're going to tether them to the wall. Two, I see a laptop as mainly for mobile computing. I see a desktop, on the other hand, as more of a member of the household, always having to be at-the-ready to provide current weather, already-downloaded email, Internet access -- not when the computer is ready, but when YOU are ready. For example, when I want my email, even if the last time was six hours earlier, I want to move the mouse, click on Mail, and have it right there. That's why I paid $$$$ for my Imac and pay $$ each month for a broadband connection. I'm not going to look to save $10 and then have to sit and wait 100 times a month. When I'm on my way out the door and want to check to see if I got an email or what the weather is I want it to be there waiting for me.
 
mreg376 said:
I have no issues with putting laptops to sleep. One -- they have an finite power supply, unless you're going to tether them to the wall. Two, I see a laptop as mainly for mobile computing. I see a desktop, on the other hand, as more of a member of the household, always having to be at-the-ready to provide current weather, already-downloaded email, Internet access -- not when the computer is ready, but when YOU are ready. For example, when I want my email, even if the last time was six hours earlier, I want to move the mouse, click on Mail, and have it right there. That's why I paid $$$$ for my Imac and pay $$ each month for a broadband connection. I'm not going to look to save $10 and then have to sit and wait 100 times per month such as when I'm on my way out the door and want to check to see if I got an email or what the weather is.
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i completely agree

i feel uneasy about laptop burnout (although I left my old laptop on constantly and it's still running strong 5 years later)

i left my old windows desktop on every chance i got for the same reason: quick access
 
asmallchild said:
i completely agree

i feel uneasy about laptop burnout (although I left my old laptop on constantly and it's still running strong 5 years later)

i left my old windows desktop on every chance i got for the same reason: quick access
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Precisely. I agree also. My big ol' Powermac is on 24/7/365. My Powerbook is asleep about 18/7/365.
 
SaSaSushi said:
You misunderstood me. Yes, they continue to power the RAM in sleep mode but the machine ALSO dumps the RAM contents to the hard disk when entering sleep mode just in case the machine should lose power before waking. This is called safe sleep mode.

You were advising all those with desktop iMacs they should have PSUs in order to avoid data loss from a power interruption while sleeping. I'm telling you this is not a concern any longer.
Click to expand...

This is actually a reason to put the computer to sleep. If you have a power failure and the computer is not sleeping, you loose everything. If you have a power failure and the computer was in safe sleep, when power is restored, OS X will restore the RAM from the hard drive and you will pick back up right where you left off.
 
quest4apple said:
This is actually a reason to put the computer to sleep. If you have a power failure and the computer is not sleeping, you loose everything. If you have a power failure and the computer was in safe sleep, when power is restored, OS X will restore the RAM from the hard drive and you will pick back up right where you left off.
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If you have Time Machine running on your Imac, which it is almost irresponsible not to do, you will not "lose everything." In fact just the opposite -- you'll have everything up to at most 59 minutes before the crash, which should be just about everything since by definition this is a period of time when you're NOT working at the Imac.
 
Well, "By everything" I clearly was referring to everything currently open and being worked on, not the whole disk.

As for Time Machine, assuming you are using Time machine AND that your external hard drive is attached AND that you haven't altered its backup schedule, then yes, it might save your bacon.

If any of those, on the other hand, aren't met even Time Machine won't bail you out in the same manner that putting the computer to sleep can.

Consider two scenarios . . . 1. You are using an MacIntel, but don't have Leopard or 2. You start working, work for less than 58 mintues, and 1 minute after you walk away, the power dies. Guess what, you are hosed unless you put your computer to sleep.

As a final note, Time Machine can't save everything anyway. If you haven't saved the work to a file, which would be the case for all work online, or in any program that doesn't save temp working files, Time Machine has nothing to back up.
 
quest4apple said:
Well, "By everything" I clearly was referring to everything currently open and being worked on, not the whole disk.

As for Time Machine, assuming you are using Time machine AND that your external hard drive is attached AND that you haven't altered its backup schedule, then yes, it might save your bacon.

If any of those, on the other hand, aren't met even Time Machine won't bail you out in the same manner that putting the computer to sleep can.

Consider two scenarios . . . 1. You are using an MacIntel, but don't have Leopard or 2. You start working, work for less than 58 mintues, and 1 minute after you walk away, the power dies. Guess what, you are hosed unless you put your computer to sleep.

As a final note, Time Machine can't save everything anyway. If you haven't saved the work to a file, which would be the case for all work online, or in any program that doesn't save temp working files, Time Machine has nothing to back up.
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Possibly, although if someone is responsible (anal?) enough to remember to put the Mac to sleep immediately, you likely diligently save your work to files.

You can change Time Machine's backup schedule? How?
 
I leave my iMac on 24/7. However it is set to sleep after 20 minutes of inactivity.

When I want to use it, it wakes almost instantly. I can't see why people say they are so pushed for time they can't wait a second for their computer to wake up.

It is not really about saving money, it is the waste of energy that bothers me and my impact.

Check out this useful energy consumption calculator on Apple's website.
 
mreg376 said:
Possibly, although if you are responsible (anal?) enough to remember to put the Mac to sleep immediately, you likely diligently save your work to files.

You can change Time Machine's backup schedule? How?
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Whatever. The Mac will put itself to sleep by itself, remember? No need to be anal about anything. Also remember that not everything can be saved to files. Your photoshop history is one that comes to mind as does many things done through Safari online.

By the way, why the arragance? If you don't want to sleep your machine, don't.
 
quest4apple said:
Whatever. The Mac will put itself to sleep by itself, remember? No need to be anal about anything. Also remember that not everything can be saved to files. Your photoshop history is one that comes to mind as does many things done through Safari online.

By the way, why the arragance? If you don't want to sleep your machine, don't.
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Didn't know disagreement was arrogance. I'll have to look that up.
 
As the OP, I feel somewhat violated. Amazing how off-topic these things can get.
To sleep or not to sleep, that is the question. Apparently not as simple as I thought AND fertile ground for other lines of discussion.
ce la vie
 
mreg376 said:
I have no issues with putting laptops to sleep. One -- they have an finite power supply, unless you're going to tether them to the wall. Two, I see a laptop as mainly for mobile computing. I see a desktop, on the other hand, as more of a member of the household, always having to be at-the-ready to provide current weather, already-downloaded email, Internet access -- not when the computer is ready, but when YOU are ready. For example, when I want my email, even if the last time was six hours earlier, I want to move the mouse, click on Mail, and have it right there. That's why I paid $$$$ for my Imac and pay $$ each month for a broadband connection. I'm not going to look to save $10 and then have to sit and wait 100 times a month. When I'm on my way out the door and want to check to see if I got an email or what the weather is I want it to be there waiting for me.
Click to expand...

...and that is a fine example of the problem. No one is willing to be patient or inconvenienced. It's me me me 24/7. There's a bike commuter on the road causing me to lose 30 seconds out of my day. I can't be bothered with turning lights off when I leave the room. I need an suv because it might snow, etc etc etc. We won't solve energy issues until people are willing to look beyond their front doors and accept the fact that change is rarely easy nor convenient.
 
mreg376 said:
Didn't know disagreement was arrogance. I'll have to look that up.
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Generally speaking, it's not, but if you fail to see the arrogance of your earlier statements, than I see no point in continuing.

Or maybe it is I who is mistaken, and references to anal retention do have a place in polite conversation.
 
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