Why does my new C2D MacBook take 10-15 seconds to sleep. My old 2003 iBook G4 sleeps in about half a second. Any way to make my MacBook go to sleep faster?
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MacBook - Why ~15 seconds to sleep? Old iBook ~ 0.5 seconds
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How much RAM do you have and how much stuff do you have open? I've found my Powerbook can take anywhere from instantly to 2 minutes to sleep, depending on what all I've got going on.
This used to really bug me. Especially if I tried to open the lid before it had finished powering down, sometimes I'd just be left with a dead screen and have to restart. Then I found this:
http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/macosxhints/2006/10/sleepmode/index.php
Basically the default setting is a 'safe sleep' mode that doesn't use any energy, but needs to move stuff from your RAM to your HDD. You can change it pretty easily via Terminal, to what the old ones (and most other laptops!) do - i.e. just instant sleep, instant wake. Even I managed to rectify it and now it sleeps instantly. And that's no mean feat, considering I'm a complete moron.
ALT.
http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/macosxhints/2006/10/sleepmode/index.php
Basically the default setting is a 'safe sleep' mode that doesn't use any energy, but needs to move stuff from your RAM to your HDD. You can change it pretty easily via Terminal, to what the old ones (and most other laptops!) do - i.e. just instant sleep, instant wake. Even I managed to rectify it and now it sleeps instantly. And that's no mean feat, considering I'm a complete moron.
ALT.
I also used this article to change my MacBook's sleep mode. I've had it changed for a few months now and there have been no problems, and it goes to sleep instantly.
I don't reccomend disabling safe sleep.
You save 10 seconds in going to sleep. Yes, that's true.
But you lose redundancy. If your computer loses power, you lose your OS state. You'll open your computer and have to boot the OS again. Any work you didn't save is gone.
Is it worth the 10 seconds?
You save 10 seconds in going to sleep. Yes, that's true.
But you lose redundancy. If your computer loses power, you lose your OS state. You'll open your computer and have to boot the OS again. Any work you didn't save is gone.
Is it worth the 10 seconds?
Nah - my old PB does not have the safe sleep option and I never lost any data in 2+ years. I sleep/wake my computer at least a dozen times a day, and it would tick me off to wait 10 more seconds every time I close the lid.
Fast and reliable sleep was the main reason I switched to Mac a few years ago and I certainly still want my Macs to sleep/wake instantly.
Fast and reliable sleep was the main reason I switched to Mac a few years ago and I certainly still want my Macs to sleep/wake instantly.
Yes, the extra 10 seconds was very annoying to me when I sleep & wake my computer many times a day, and am usually in a rush. Besides, anyone who doesn't save everything before they sleep, regardless of whether they have safe sleep, is an idiot.
So basically, you waste 10 seconds sitting there waiting for the sleep light to blink, rather than just closing the machine, placing it in your bag or briefcase and going on with your life.
Hello? Does this make sense? It's not going to go to sleep faster if you watch it.
Fine, go ahead and turn off safe sleep.
For your precious ten seconds of OCD.
It's not asleep until the light starts pulsing, which takes at least 10 seconds. If you move it before it starts pulsing, you risk damaging the harddrive. So yes, if you don't want to risk damaging your computer, you do have to sit there waiting for the light to blink. Hence why I turned off safe sleep.
No problem - I always back up and save. My PB crashed a couple of times during those 2+ years with loss of immediate data. In no case did I lose any significant amount of work. These crashes were not related to sleep, so I can safely assume that the "unsafe" sleep is actually safe.
In the two years I've owned my current PowerBook, the two years I owned my previous PowerBook, and the year and a half I carried an iBook before that, I have never had the battery fall out.
I do wish Apple gave a simple preference setting for "Safe sleep" or "Quick sleep." My data is usually safe enough in memory, since my laptop is usually connected to the wall, with a fully-charged battery installed.
Really? Damage the hard drive exactly? Picking the computer up and moving it while data is being written to the hard drive will not damage the hard drive. If you dropped the laptop, yes you'd be in for a bit of a mess, but rotating it round while it is being written to won't cause any problems.
Hard drives can experience 5G's while writing data before it might damage it.
However, I hate the time it takes for my MBP to stop sleeping, so I too turned off this feature.
You must believe that the fridge light stays on when you close the door. I just don't understand why you'd want to turn off such a useful feature.
Would you want to not wear your seatbelt? Because it takes ten seconds longer to get in and out of the car?
from the MacBook user guide itself:
"NOTICE: Wait a few seconds until the sleep indicator light starts pulsing (indicating that the computer is in sleep and the hard disk has stopped spinning) before you move your MacBook. Moving your computer while the hard disk is spinning can damage it, causing loss of data or the inability to start up from the hard disk."
If I'm not willing to take the chance of moving it before the light is pulsing, and the time it takes until the light pulses is an inconvenience to me, then the only logical solution is to reduce that time by disabling safe sleep. The cumulative time I spend waiting for the light to start pulsing is more of an inconvenience to me than the 1-in-a-hundred chance that I lose everything (which I save anyway) because my battery falls out.
anyway, I'm not really sure what I need to justify here - if you don't mind moving your computer before it is actually asleep, that's your business.
I prefer not to move my laptop too much while it's on, or in the process of writing to the disk. So yes, I used to wait for the light to start pulsing before I'd dare move it. This is because the hard drive on my last laptop (admittedly, not anywhere near as well-made as this one) died when I walked down the corridor with the computer on as I held it level.
It's just not worth losing everything because of my impatience, so I chose to disable safe sleep and risk losing only changes I hadn't saved. (I save everything all the time anyway, including before I put my computer to sleep, so I really have nothing to lose even IF the battery 'falls out' and I have to reboot when it comes time to use my computer again.)
This is in no way analogous to not wearing a seatbelt.
I believe that the newer PB's and all the MB/MBP's have this SMS (Sudden Motion Sensor) feature which parks the HDD arms if its moved suddenly? So, whats the diff? Its already safe. I don't mind the extra 10secs, its much better than all my friends with windows who have to wait till their machine shutsdown before packing it in. For me, I just close the lid, and start packing it into my bag. No fuss, no hassle
Or you could just press the power button and choose sleep before closing the lid. Some of my friends do that when they can't wait 10 seconds
Or you could just press the power button and choose sleep before closing the lid. Some of my friends do that when they can't wait 10 seconds
I believe that the newer PB's and all the MB/MBP's have this SMS (Sudden Motion Sensor) feature which parks the HDD arms if its moved suddenly? So, whats the diff? Its already safe. I don't mind the extra 10secs, its much better than all my friends with windows who have to wait till their machine shutsdown before packing it in. For me, I just close the lid, and start packing it into my bag. No fuss, no hassle
Or you could just press the power button and choose sleep before closing the lid. Some of my friends do that when they can't wait 10 seconds
SMS apparently doesn't operate during the 10 seconds or so whilst the file is written to the HDD.
Also, I always wait for the light to pulse because I know several people who also have MacBooks and have not waited for the pulsing, only to pull the laptop out later and discover it never slept and has been awake in the case, gently warming itself up. As such, I prefer to err on the side of caution and make sure it's asleep before I put it in the bag.
Then again, I've also developed the habit of simply shutting it 10 seconds earlier. I would do the switching off safe sleep - but I'm not comfortable piddling about with low-level system stuff.