MBP shutdown vs sleep

[trek1500]

I just got a new MBP and I'm just curious as to what everyone does when they are done with their laptop. Do you just close the lid and let the laptop go to sleep until your next session or do you completely shut down. I found myself shutting down every time I was done and went to the Apple store the other day and this kid tells me it's safe and easier to just shut your lid and put the computer into it's sleep mode until you're ready to use it again. This is convenient but is it good for battery life?

 

[agentphish]

I've used my powerbook every day for 4+ years like that.
I never shut down unless I'm going away for an extended period of time (3+ days) and I am not bringing the laptop with me.

Thats the beauty of the way Mac works!

 

[misterredman]

I rarely shut down my macbook. Much faster when I need it than restarting.

 

[Watabou]

I used to shut it down. Now I just let it go to sleep. Its really great not having to wait whatever seconds it takes to start up.

 

[Consultant]

Sleep. No point in shutting down OS X (this is not windows where all kinds of problem such as network switching will surface if you don't shut down).

 

[John Doe 57]

Are you guys serious? I never knew that Macs were better with that. I've been shutting down my MBP every night, same with the iMac. I thought the RAM has to reset itself. I mean 4GB of RAM is a lot, but I thought its safe to shut down the computer.

 

[patrickmacrumor]

Are you guys serious? I never knew that Macs were better with that. I've been shutting down my MBP every night, same with the iMac. I thought the RAM has to reset itself. I mean 4GB of RAM is a lot, but I thought its safe to shut down the computer.

From time to time, I let it sleep overnight so that I can check my e-mails in the morning before heading to work. When I do, I usually quit all applications especially Safari. Why? Because, I've noticed that my MacBook would wake up sometimes in the middle of the night. And since Safari from time to time, even during regular use, would hog the CPU up to 100% and make my fan go nuts, I don't want to take any risk.

--
Patrick

 

[trek1500]

I'm glad to hear that kid was right! I been so conditioned by PCs and always hated how long it took for everything to get going everytime I signed on. It's great just to be able to flip your lid open and be ready to go!

 

[trek1500]

From time to time, I let it sleep overnight so that I can check my e-mails in the morning before heading to work. When I do, I usually quit all applications especially Safari. Why? Because, I've noticed that my MacBook would wake up sometimes in the middle of the night. And since Safari from time to time, even during regular use, would hog the CPU up to 100% and make my fan go nuts, I don't want to take any risk.

--
Patrick

That's a good point about shutting down all your applications which is what I have been doing.

 

[Consultant]

Usually there is no need to close apps before closing the lid.


To the others,
A Mac waking up at night by itself is not normal. I would make appointment with Genius Bar if it's an issue for you.

Safari shouldn't take 100% CPU. If it is, you are probably on a site with lots of flash ads. Quit Safari and restart will resolve that in most cases.

 

[clevin]

I shut down my MB every day.

I think I mentioned in some other thread, I tried sleep a year back, MB behave strangely after two days. Such as mysterious CPU 100%, display became choppy, etc.

I do NOT claim to know exactly the cause of the problem, but reboot did resolve the issue.

I don't see problem with shutdown machine anyway.

 

[Hates]

Sleep on the Mac is a godsend. It's hard not to be conditioned by the joke of a sleep function on PCs. Sleep works perfectly for me. Nothing better then having everything ready to go in a couple of seconds.

 

[fr4c]

Been doing that for as long as I can remember. If it starts behaving oddly, then do a restart.

 

[dadoc04]

I've been just closing the lid on mine. No problems so far.

 

[patrickmacrumor]

To the others,
A Mac waking up at night by itself is not normal. I would make appointment with Genius Bar if it's an issue for you.

I wish I had an Apple Store close by, but sadly no. I have third party authorised repair centres. The problem is that it was with my MacBook which has been replaced since. I have not tried it with my new MacBook yet. Maybe this one won't have the problem.

Safari shouldn't take 100% CPU. If it is, you are probably on a site with lots of flash ads. Quit Safari and restart will resolve that in most cases.

I know about sites with lots of Flash, but for some strange reasons, it will start taking up 100% after I've left the site with heavy Flash animations.

Like you said, I've been quitting and restarting Safari. Could you imagine a new user who does not paying attention to fans becoming noisy?. I work with computers for a living, so it's a habit for me to have some kind of activity monitor running all the time, regardless of the OS. I don't think a lot of "end users" do that though.

 

[iToaster]

I never turn off any of my Macs that haven't been retired. My PowerBook goes to sleep at nights, but my Mac Pro stays on 24/7 running SETI@home. When Apple doesn't release any updates that require a restart I'll often rack up an uptime of well over 30 days.

 

[BileGhost]

I barely ever restart my computer. I think its good for it to be shutdown from time to time, but most of the time I just shut the lid and let it go to sleep.

 

[gusious]

I never turn off any of my Macs that haven't been retired. My PowerBook goes to sleep at nights, but my Mac Pro stays on 24/7 running SETI@home. When Apple doesn't release any updates that require a restart I'll often rack up an uptime of well over 30 days.

You really run SETI?Well,who knows...Maybe you'll come up with an alien or something!Just kidding!

I usually shut down my MBP mostly for environmental reasons...That may sound funny but...

 

[patrickmacrumor]

Usually there is no need to close apps before closing the lid.

Maybe closing the lid is better since it will back to sleep if it does wake up and notice that the lid is in "close" position. I rarely close the lid on mine. It's connected to an external monitor. I just click on the Apple menu and choose sleep.

--
Patrick

 

[furcalchick]

i usually shut down my computer about 1-2 nights a month (just to make sure the computer doesn't overheat). usually, i let it sleep overnight, but sometimes, the internet shuts off and i can't get any stuff that comes in overnight and that sorta stinks.

my dad (a pc expert) says i should restart my mac once a week to refresh the memory or something. is restarting my mac weekly a must or can i go without it?

 

[John Doe 57]

my dad (a pc expert) says i should restart my mac once a week to refresh the memory or something. is restarting my mac weekly a must or can i go without it?

See thats what I've been told to do as well! I heard the resetting your RAM is very important, thats why I shut down my MBP every night.

 

[alphaod]

I only shutdown if I'm required by a update or I have to keep my computer off for an extended period of time. Otherwise it's always sleep.

 

[notjustjay]

See thats what I've been told to do as well! I heard the resetting your RAM is very important, thats why I shut down my MBP every night.

I'm not sure that resetting PRAM is quite as important as it once was, say in the mid-90's.

I've been putting my Macs to sleep (PowerBook, iMac and MacBookPro) each night with no issues. Yes, very occasionally something will go wrong, and at that point a reboot tends to fix things. I would say, go ahead and sleep the machines, and if you feel something isn't right, then reboot as necessary... no need to make a ritual out of rebooting every X interval.

In my experience, software updates (new system updates, security updates, etc.) that require a restart are by far the most common reason I ever need to reboot my machines.

 

[BileGhost]

When I had a PC, shutting down / restarting every few days was a must, or I would get massive slowdown (XP). Since I switched to Mac, no such problem.

 

[soLoredd]

Maybe closing the lid is better since it will back to sleep if it does wake up and notice that the lid is in "close" position. I rarely close the lid on mine. It's connected to an external monitor. I just click on the Apple menu and choose sleep.

--
Patrick

That is what I do as well. The only time I shut down my MacBook is when I am not going to be using it for a few days. I've never had a problem with slow down or RAM releasing memory.

I do have to comment about Windows and hibernate. We just got new tablets at the hospital to scan medications and chart patient data. Since they are portable they are set to hibernate after 5 minutes of non-use. I haven't had a single problem with it coming out of hibernation and locking up or losing functionality. Can't say my PC at home was ever that solid though.