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QueenZ

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 26, 2008
284
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Is it ok to never shut down my laptop? I mean, i hope it won't overheat or anything.. I have iBook G4 and i am wondring if i can just put it to sleep by closing the lid and leave it overnight and never shut it down.. is it ok?
 
Nah...

I have left every Mac I've owned since my Quadra 605 on 24/7/365. The PowerBook G3 Wallstreet, Pismo, and Aluminum PowerBook G4 are still kicking after all of that power-on time.

The only thing I recommend is to allow the display to sleep. After many hours of use, the backlight in the older Macs (and most other LCD displays) begins to dim. The picture will become darker and on some models, the backlight will be slow to wake, leaving a slight pink tinge on the screen until it wakes to full capacity. This was common on the PismoBooks.

:D
 
I have left every Mac I've owned since my Quadra 605 on 24/7/365. The PowerBook G3 Wallstreet, Pismo, and Aluminum PowerBook G4 are still kicking after all of that power-on time.

The only thing I recommend is to allow the display to sleep. After many hours of use, the backlight in the older Macs (and most other LCD displays) begins to dim. The picture will become darker and on some models, the backlight will be slow to wake, leaving a slight pink tinge on the screen until it wakes to full capacity. This was common on the PismoBooks.

:D

Well, when you close the lid, the backlight will automatically go out :) So you haven't shut down your mac for months?
 
I've only shut down my 24" iMac maybe 3 times in the past year. I have my display turn off after 15 minutes and it goes to sleep after 30 minutes of inactivity. I also do the same thing with my Macbook Pro.
 
Thats fine, I always just put my blackbook to sleep and never had any issues. I do the same with my alu macbook its been up since i got it (only restarting for updates) I guess if youre going to leave it for a long period of time you can shut it down. but turning it off and on constantly is not good for it.
 
Thats fine, I always just put my blackbook to sleep and never had any issues. I do the same with my alu macbook its been up since i got it (only restarting for updates) I guess if youre going to leave it for a long period of time you can shut it down. but turning it off and on constantly is not good for it.

I only turn it off if I know I'm not gong to use it for a week or more. For example, if I'm going on vacation and not taking it with me, etc.
Last time I turned it off was on November 10th, right before getting into an airplane. Since then my MBP has been on and just put to sleep overnight.
 
Thats fine, I always just put my blackbook to sleep and never had any issues. I do the same with my alu macbook its been up since i got it (only restarting for updates) I guess if youre going to leave it for a long period of time you can shut it down. but turning it off and on constantly is not good for it.

ive seen others say its "not good" to turn it on and off all the time... why is that??
 
All that sounds really awesome and i hope it's fine to do that for iBook too.. not just MacBooks..
 
ive seen others say its "not good" to turn it on and off all the time... why is that??

Some people say powering on and off the electronics and the additional load on the hard drive motor to startup the platters can cause a short life. I've never noticed a problem either way.
 
My trusty old Powerbook's uptime is now 151+ days. It''s used every day, mainly for browsing, playing music and a bit of Dreamweaver.
 

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Some people say powering on and off the electronics and the additional load on the hard drive motor to startup the platters can cause a short life. I've never noticed a problem either way.
Probably doesn't as the default setting for macs is to turn off the hdd when the computer is sleeping.
 
Mine's on 24/7; I just turn off the screen at night. I recently rebooted when it froze after an uptime of ~67 days. Been on 7 days since then.
 
Your hard drive will appreciate it if you power down your computer before transporting it in a vehicle, according to numerous scoldings from the genius bar directed toward myself.
 
what if you run low on memory, the only way to refresh your ram is to restart it? correct?
 
Your hard drive will appreciate it if you power down your computer before transporting it in a vehicle, according to numerous scoldings from the genius bar directed toward myself.

Sleep should spin down and power down the HD. I've flown, and driven more times than I can count with my PowerBook only asleep. I drive a Jeep Wrangler so my laptop never gets a smooth ride.
 
You're going to have to let it shut itself down when calibrating the battery but other than that there's no compelling reason to do so.

With these new batteries you dont have to calibrate the batteries. PLuss he is probably always running on the magsafe anyways so the battery isnt in use.
 
Your hard drive will appreciate it if you power down your computer before transporting it in a vehicle, according to numerous scoldings from the genius bar directed toward myself.

Euhm I can see that happening, mine didn't appreciate recording audio in a bus. But, as I already said, by default, when your macbook goes to sleep, so should the hdd. So there shouldn't be a problem with carrying around a sleeping macbook.
 
what if you run low on memory, the only way to refresh your ram is to restart it? correct?
iFreeMem. Love it.

Euhm I can see that happening, mine didn't appreciate recording audio in a bus. But, as I already said, by default, when your macbook goes to sleep, so should the hdd. So there shouldn't be a problem with carrying around a sleeping macbook.
The first time, that was my argument. The genius bar guy was pretty adamant about the hard drive tho. Granted, I haven't much heeded his advice, but my hard drive is backed up and has a nice long warranty, and I can have a spare installed in a half hour.
 
Well i don't travel anywhere with my iBook G4 so i guess it's fine! :)
 
I left my 17" MacBook Pro on for 10 months. I had it on my desk on a monitor stand for ventilation. I picked it up off the desk the day I replaced it with a MacBook and noticed that the aluminum backing on the battery had warped to the point where it started to peel away from the battery.

The MacBook stayed on for about a year without any problems. I'd cycle the battery maybe once a month.
 
All that sounds really awesome and i hope it's fine to do that for iBook too.. not just MacBooks..

A Mac is a Mac no matter what processor it has or generation it was built. The Mac OS really hasn't changed. They basically work just the same since the first Macintosh.
 
A Mac is a Mac no matter what processor it has or generation it was built. The Mac OS really hasn't changed. They basically work just the same since the first Macintosh.

Yeah i know, i was just wondering if it can't overheat if never turn it off ;)
 
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