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Is leaving your computer on overnight a big deal?

ptheo27

ptheo27

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 19, 2008
34
0
Canada
I was wondering if leaving your computer on all day and night is a bad thing. I have no clue what's so ever if it ruins the display on your iMac or what. Also if you leave your computer on all day, does it effect your iMacs performance?

Thanks
Peter
:apple:
 
ptheo27 said:
I was wondering if leaving your computer on all day and night is a bad thing. I have no clue what's so ever if it ruins the display on your iMac or what. Also if you leave your computer on all day, does it effect your iMacs performance?
Click to expand...

My normal practice is to put it to sleep, but there have been times I've left it on for days (and in some cases weeks). Doesn't seem to affect performance any but I did reboot it after a week or so just to clear out the RAM.

As for the display just set up a screensaver or turn it off to ensure no image "burns" into it.
 
thunderclap said:
My normal practice is to put it to sleep, but there have been times I've left it on for days (and in some cases weeks). Doesn't seem to affect performance any but I did reboot it after a week or so just to clear out the RAM.

As for the display just set up a screensaver or turn it off to ensure no image "burns" into it.
Click to expand...

makes sense.
 
There are a few threads on this that go into more detail, but no, it's not a big deal, unless we're talking about your electric bill ;)
 
it shouldnt be taht big of a deal and wont really impact your wattage/electric bill that much i run two machines pretty much all the time, one all the time.

the best way to reduce the amount it consumes and to disable/turn off the display you can do that by pressing SHIFT CONTROL EJECT Key and that will turn off the LCD completely.
 
Environmentalists will tell you turn it off, unplug it, remove the battery and etc. to make sure not wasting a single bit of electricity...

But, I commonly leave mine on for weeks at a time. I want to use my computer, but I set the monitor to turn off after 15 minutes of inactivity.

Plus, we are talking a few dollars, not hundreds of dollars to run your computer all of the time.

According to Apple, the new MacBooks use the same amount of energy as 1/4 of a light bulb. Think that is what they said in the new advertisement.
 
I've had my Mac Pro running 24/7 on maximum load with breaks only for system updates for months now. If you're wondering how I'm maxing out my Mac Pro, SETI@home is what I've got goin' on (feel free to check me out on the MacRumor's SETI@home page if you want to do some quick math to figure out how long it's been on).

However, my ACD is set to turn off so my backlight doesn't slowly die on me and images don't burn in.
 
iToaster said:
I've had my Mac Pro running 24/7 on maximum load with breaks only for system updates for months now. If you're wondering how I'm maxing out my Mac Pro, SETI@home is what I've got goin' on (feel free to check me out on the MacRumor's SETI@home page if you want to do some quick math to figure out how long it's been on).

However, my ACD is set to turn off so my backlight doesn't slowly die on me and images don't burn in.
Click to expand...

whats SETI@home?
 
If those are serious questions:

ACD = Apple Cinema Display (monitor)

Seti@home - Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence = It's a distributed computing project that uses networked computers to sift through radio wave recordings from space, looking for signs of other intelligent life.

Personally, I run Folding @ Home (another distributed computing project) that aims to understand how protein folding occurs. (leading to a better understanding of diseases and chemical engineering)

I've been running Folding @ Home on my computer (with the display off at night, obviously) for weeks on end. With my iMac over 2 years old - no noticeable effects whatsoever.
 
The only issue with leaving a mac on overnight is that over an extensive period of time, and im talking, weeks or even months here... it can clog up your ram, but a restart will fix that, ive never known a mac to have overheating issues with leaving the machine on, and this particular mac i am typing on now, has been on for the past 6 months, and hasn't given me a single problem yet...

however, i am typing on an iMac, if you are using another model, such as the newer macbook... I must warn that i have heard rumours of overheating.
 
The last time I shut my iMac down was when I went on vacation back in May. Other than that, it's constantly running, with the screen set to go into sleep mode after 10 minutes.
 
My laptops spend all of their time on but asleep with the lid shut (unless I'm using them, of course, in that instance I tend to have the screen open as it makes it easier to view the screen); my Power Mac too, spends most of its time asleep, although that one gets shut down quite often owing to its tendency to crash. Stupid thing.
 
i leave my mac on all the time but if if I'm not using it for a few hours I sleep it.
 
my friend never turns off his imac. He only turned it off once when he moved to his new house. when i use his imac it still works great.
 
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