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BrunoMac

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 6, 2008
153
0
I used to leave my other computer on all the time, should I do the same with my iMac?

Thanks from a newb.
 
I agree. Just put it to sleep instead of turning it off. I've been doing this with my iMac for almost 4 years now. I only reboot it every 4 or 5 months...

Bryan

P.S. One of the easiest ways to put it to sleep is to reach around and quickly tap the power button.
 
I always click my name in upper right corner, select to go back to the "log in screen."

Then I click sleep.
 
Use Hot Corners! Put that snow leopard spiffiness to use: :apple: > System Prefs > Expose & Spaces > Expose, then activate screen corners, assign the corner of your choice (mine is bottom left) to "Put display to sleep" and voila! Now you can put your beauty to sleep with one mouse swipe to that corner.
 
What is the advantage of keeping an iMac always on?? (when not in need, put to sleep), and not just turning it off?

I'm asking this because here, (portugal) that i know of, most of the people just turns off the computer, at the most keeps at sleep while away during the day, and at night they'll just turn it off.

I've only seen (in movies. lol sorry for the comparison), almost every time some one get near a computer it just needed a touch of a button to have it up and running. i always find it strange and kind of funny, it was almost a common thing to do :p
 
What is the advantage of keeping an iMac always on?? (when not in need, put to sleep), and not just turning it off?

I'm asking this because here, (portugal) that i know of, most of the people just turns off the computer, at the most keeps at sleep while away during the day, and at night they'll just turn it off.

I've only seen (in movies. lol sorry for the comparison), almost every time some one get near a computer it just needed a touch of a button to have it up and running. i always find it strange and kind of funny, it was almost a common thing to do :p

I sleep my iMac and macbook so that the state I left it in is there in the morning.

That include what applications are running, what documents are open etc.
 
Unless you need to keep your machine running 24x7, i.e. it will house an iTunes library that needs to be accessible at all times to other computers, then you should either sleep or shut down, if only for the energy saving.

Sleep is great because you're immediately ready to go again and all your applications can stay open.

Shutting down is great, too, because you're clearing your computer's memory and closing any processes that have gone awry.

A mixture of sleep and shut down is probably best; 9 times out of 10 I put my Mac laptops to sleep (you just shut the lid), but I'll probably shut my iMac down more frequently than that, particularly if I don't need to leave any applications open.
 
Turn it off.. It takes 30 seconds for it to be ready from a cold boot. Can't you wait that long? Save some energy in the process instead of wasting it.

It would be great though if someone could make an application that simulates the sleep -> saves app state to disk and reopens it on boot..
 
It would be great though if someone could make an application that simulates the sleep -> saves app state to disk and reopens it on boot..
This already happens in sleep - if you pull the plug you'll notice that your Mac is still able to resume to the point it left off, even though the RAM has been cleared.

Sleep, however, uses much less power than leaving the machine 'on'. I don't think it's unreasonable to sleep a Mac regularly if it makes it easier to resume where one left off.
 
Myself, i turn it off everyday, don't really have the need to have it "on" all the time, and even when i had a lot of work to do in the mbp i'de just turn it on when i arrived at home.
 
But the HDD drive will decrease if you let it stay on forever.

by the time your HDD dies from being used so much, your computer would become obsolete. Corporations and data centers never turn off their machines, its on 24x7.
 
There is arguably more damage done to circuitry and componants from that initial jolt of electricity upon start-up than from keeping the equipment running full-time.

Of course the difference between wear and tear from shutting down/starting up and leaving on constantly would be hard to notice until perhaps several years down the road, if ever.

I have my computer serving my iTunes content...I use the sleep corner :D and have my display sleep at 5 minutes and my computer processor sleep after 15 minutes of inactivity.

Coming back from power down may take 30 seconds for some, but with others who have mutliple apps they use and various network connections to navigate perhaps, it makes sense to sleep rather than shut down. In the 30 seconds it took to power up the computer, I may already have started working on something, or watching that YouTube video, or began killing aliens...etc.
 
Turn it off.. It takes 30 seconds for it to be ready from a cold boot. Can't you wait that long? Save some energy in the process instead of wasting it.

It would be great though if someone could make an application that simulates the sleep -> saves app state to disk and reopens it on boot..
The problem with shutting down overnight is that the maintenance routines will not get run, at all. Sleeping takes only slightly more power (<1w) than shutting down. http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&sourc...MG2UfoTjgW-Ed4tmg&sig2=9tL2xESbkApMOZ5L23EOWA
 
Shut it down over night! Its a waste of electricity and flushing money down the drain.
Moreover Apps like Yahoo Widgets which I run on startup like to hang up after reawakening after sleep.

Do the Sleep Thing if you like to work on your iMac every here and then during daytime but if you definately go to bed or out of house for a couple of hours its for shure wasting money to put it into sleep mode.
 
Coming back from power down may take 30 seconds for some, but with others who have mutliple apps they use and various network connections to navigate perhaps, it makes sense to sleep rather than shut down. In the 30 seconds it took to power up the computer, I may already have started working on something, or watching that YouTube video, or began killing aliens...etc.

LOL

Thanks for the laugh! :)
 
Shut it down over night! Its a waste of electricity and flushing money down the drain.
Moreover Apps like Yahoo Widgets which I run on startup like to hang up after reawakening after sleep.

Do the Sleep Thing if you like to work on your iMac every here and then during daytime but if you definately go to bed or out of house for a couple of hours its for shure wasting money to put it into sleep mode.

Less than $1/year on average vs sleeping.
 
As for keeping your apps open...
There is sleep, and there is deep sleep, where memory is saved to disk and the computer is turned off completely. After resuming all open apps, documents etc are back just like when resuming from normal sleep mode. You can you for example InsomniaX to enable deep sleep (there it's called hibernation, just like in windows).
 
Shut it down over night! Its a waste of electricity and flushing money down the drain.
Moreover Apps like Yahoo Widgets which I run on startup like to hang up after reawakening after sleep.

Do the Sleep Thing if you like to work on your iMac every here and then during daytime but if you definately go to bed or out of house for a couple of hours its for shure wasting money to put it into sleep mode.

According to an article I just read on forums.dealnews.com, the 27" iMac consumes approximately 11 watts per hour in sleep mode. That is barely more than when it is shut off. Yes, they use power even when shut off. Any monitary savings is negligible. I currently pay 12.5 cents per 1Kwh and I'm using 11 watts per hour in sleep mode. Do the math. It's cheap. The only way to use no power is to unplug the machine. Besides, the maintenance scripts, daily, weekly and monthly are scheduled to run during the night. I always put mine to sleep and re-boot every couple of weeks.
 
The argument to turn off for power saving reasons is really quite moot. In sleep mode power consumption is hardly greater than when shut down as even a turned of computer will consume a small amount of power. Sleep mode is an extremely low power state and keeping it there is well worth the convenience of having an active computer only a keystroke away.
 
If i'm using my mac within an hour or two I sleep it. If I'm off to bed then it's off.
Tis only a small power saving, but no need to waste electrics.
 
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