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Leaving macbook open for big download

M

marchellobb

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 21, 2009
82
0
Hey guys, I was wondering if it was safe to leave my macbook on while i sleep to download big things that can take up to a few hours to download?

Should I leave it hooked to a power supply or running off it's own battery?

While i'm at it: Is it safe to leave my macbook on the power supply anytime im at home, or does that kill the battery faster?
 
marchellobb said:
Hey guys, I was wondering if it was safe to leave my macbook on while i sleep to download big things that can take up to a few hours to download?

Should I leave it hooked to a power supply or running off it's own battery?

While i'm at it: Is it safe to leave my macbook on the power supply anytime im at home, or does that kill the battery faster?
Click to expand...

I leave mine plugged in all the time for big downloads and video renders. It'll usually go to sleep after it's done; if not, it'll just turn off the screen. No problems so far!

In fact I'm about to do that now.
 
polaris20 said:
I leave mine plugged in all the time for big downloads and video renders. It'll usually go to sleep after it's done; if not, it'll just turn off the screen. No problems so far!

In fact I'm about to do that now.
Click to expand...

Can i close the macbook shut or do i have to leave the screen up and exposed?
 
Are you guys sure it would work by just leaving it open?

When you wake up your computer from sleep you can see that it disconnects the wifi. That means no wifi no download. The hard drive also sleeps when the computer is on sleep, so there's no writing going on.

To prevent this from happening go to the menu bar and click the "". Select "System Preferences...". On the "Hardware" group select "Energy Saver". Put "Computer Sleep" to "Never". You can still have your display sleep and downloading something. That would be actually be a good thing because if you put the "Display Sleep" to "Never" and there's nothing going on for a long time you would get an LCD burn-in.

Correct me if I'm mistaken guys. :D
 
philipxz said:
Are you guys sure it would work by just leaving it open?

When you wake up your computer from sleep you can see that it disconnects the wifi. That means no wifi no download. The hard drive also sleeps when the computer is on sleep, so there's no writing going on.

To prevent this from happening go to the menu bar and click the "". Select "System Preferences...". On the "Hardware" group select "Energy Saver". Put "Computer Sleep" to "Never". You can still have your display sleep and downloading something. That would be actually be a good thing because if you put the "Display Sleep" to "Never" and there's nothing going on for a long time you would get an LCD burn-in.

Correct me if I'm mistaken guys. :D
Click to expand...

I don't think there is anything as LCD burn-in. Only plasma does... I think?
 
As long as it is plugged in it won't go to sleep.

I leave the screen open. The screen will shut off after 20 or so mins but laptop isn't asleep, so d/l continues
 
I'm sure that the computer doesn't go to sleep if there is something happening. Like downloading, converting video, or bittorrenting. But I'm not sure since my computer is set to never sleep.
 
sammich said:
I'm sure that the computer doesn't go to sleep if there is something happening. Like downloading, converting video, or bittorrenting. But I'm not sure since my computer is set to never sleep.
Click to expand...

You're correct. Modern computers will not go to sleep if there is an active process like downloading, converting video, etc. Once those processes finish and the computer sits idle, then it will go to sleep.
 
philipxz said:
Are you guys sure it would work by just leaving it open?

When you wake up your computer from sleep you can see that it disconnects the wifi. That means no wifi no download. The hard drive also sleeps when the computer is on sleep, so there's no writing going on.

To prevent this from happening go to the menu bar and click the "". Select "System Preferences...". On the "Hardware" group select "Energy Saver". Put "Computer Sleep" to "Never". You can still have your display sleep and downloading something. That would be actually be a good thing because if you put the "Display Sleep" to "Never" and there's nothing going on for a long time you would get an LCD burn-in.

Correct me if I'm mistaken guys. :D
Click to expand...

I set my computer to never sleep if the power adapter is in (because I turn it off if I dont need to use it). Then I set hot corners so that the bottom right hand corner triggers the display to turn off, when I go to bed I simply turn off the screen and let it download whatever.
 
UrFatMom said:
I don't think there is anything as LCD burn-in. Only plasma does... I think?
Click to expand...

You're correct. LCD screens don't suffer from burn in. Plasma/CRT does due to the phosphor screens retaining their state after a long static image is left on the screen.
 
When leaving my laptop on for a large amount of time, I shut it using InsomniaX. Especially when sleeping, as I don't want dust to settle on it...
 
It's probably best to leave the computer open so you don't trap any heat. Just leave your computer open, disable sleep, and then sleep the display.

To sleep the display hit SHIFT+CONTROL+EJECT
This does not sleep the computer only the display. I am amazed more people don't know about this. A lot of people resort to using an active screen corner to sleep the display but I find this much more easier.
 
I often leave my mbp on all night to download stuff from itunes, I leave it plugged in and on a desk so that it is well ventilated. I have never had any problems.:)
 
angemon89 said:
It's probably best to leave the computer open so you don't trap any heat. Just leave your computer open, disable sleep, and then sleep the display.

To sleep the display hit SHIFT+CONTROL+EJECT
This does not sleep the computer only the display. I am amazed more people don't know about this. A lot of people resort to using an active screen corner to sleep the display but I find this much more easier.
Click to expand...
He doesn't have to worry about heat. If he's not doing anything resource-intensive, there is absolutely no need to worry about that.
 
I leave my computer at night on to download things all the time. Never had an issue.
 
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