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Rarely shutting down a Pbook - drawbacks?

E

eAspenwood

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 20, 2005
94
0
USA
I've taken to putting the pbook to sleep as an alternative to shutting down, when I ferry the computer between office, hotel (I'm a traveling consultant), home, etc. I've calculated this saves me about an hour over the course of the week (starting up ,shutting down, opening & closing apps). So over the course of a year, it should save at least a work weeks worth of time (45hrs).

For me its one of the many reasons I really like the powerbook. My windows notebooks could never do this gracefully. In addition, windows works much better if you reboot daily in my experience.

Anyway, I'm trying to think of the drawbacks of hardly ever shutting down the powerbook. I know it will probably take its toll on the battery over time. But even if I needed to replace the battery every year or two, it would still be well worth the time and convenience it buys me.

Anyother drawbacks anyone can think of? Maybe they're are other parts being worn down that are not so easily replaced. I can't think of anything.
 
I think you pretty much nailed it with the battery being worn down faster then it would have otherwise. I cannot think of any other serious issues with what you're doing.. that's pretty much what the laptop was (or should be) made to do.
 
OSX accumulates virtual memory swap files on the hard drive that aren't deleted until you log out or reboot. As they get larger, the Mac accesses the drive more often and slows down. I'd reboot once a month or so. Otherwise you're using your PowerBook to good advantage. I can't imagine owning a laptop that needed to be restarted every time you used it.
 
Well, this is what I get for raving about the sleep feature - I can no longer use it! My screen latch mechanism broke, so my screen lid doesn't stay shut. I always thought that screen latch hook that swoops down from the top looked pretty flimsy and would break, but it was actually the bottom piece where the hook catches on to that broke off.

From reading other post it looks like a pain to get it fixed, so I'll just have to live with it for now I guess.

At some point I will have to do battle with the Apple Care people to get it fixed. I'm sure they will say that I must have done something to break it, but it hasn't been dropped or anything. The thing just broke through normal usage.

M#@$%@#$@#$#@!

-- J.
 
eAspenwood said:
Well, this is what I get for raving about the sleep feature - I can no longer use it! My screen latch mechanism broke, so my screen lid doesn't stay shut. I always thought that screen latch hook that swoops down from the top looked pretty flimsy and would break, but it was actually the bottom piece where the hook catches on to that broke off.

From reading other post it looks like a pain to get it fixed, so I'll just have to live with it for now I guess.

At some point I will have to do battle with the Apple Care people to get it fixed. I'm sure they will say that I must have done something to break it, but it hasn't been dropped or anything. The thing just broke through normal usage.

M#@$%@#$@#$#@!

-- J.
Click to expand...

If you're still covered, call them! If it's a manufacturing defect they have to replace it.
 
You can still use the sleep feature, you just have to do it differently. At the end of the day, just set your notebook to sleep after five minutes of inactivity. This way, when you close the lid, it'll run for a few minutes before going to sleep.

I never turn my computer off, OS X is stable enough to keep on all the time. Plus, the system does maintenance at around 4 in the morning when I'm not using it, so I see leaving it on as a benefit.
 
SummerBreeze said:
You can still use the sleep feature, you just have to do it differently. At the end of the day, just set your notebook to sleep after five minutes of inactivity. This way, when you close the lid, it'll run for a few minutes before going to sleep.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm going to try doing this. I'll just have to put it in a sleeve or something snug that keeps the lid shut so that the lid doesn't open and close while its in my bag, repeatedly bringing it in and out of sleep.
 
SummerBreeze said:
You can still use the sleep feature, you just have to do it differently. At the end of the day, just set your notebook to sleep after five minutes of inactivity. This way, when you close the lid, it'll run for a few minutes before going to sleep.

I never turn my computer off, OS X is stable enough to keep on all the time. Plus, the system does maintenance at around 4 in the morning when I'm not using it, so I see leaving it on as a benefit.
Click to expand...

Can you explain to me this maintenance process when the computer is asleep. I'm new to mac. thanks ;)
 
the maintenance is done at four and if you have a G5 you will know your computer is doing the maintenance at 4am. I dont know what is does but it is a good idea to reboot once in a while. The only time I ever reboot is when the Installer tells me to.
 
xparaparafreakx said:
the maintenance is done at four and if you have a G5 you will know your computer is doing the maintenance at 4am. I dont know what is does but it is a good idea to reboot once in a while. The only time I ever reboot is when the Installer tells me to.
Click to expand...

Does the maintenance still occur when the computer is asleep/turned off? I run a G4 iBook (most recent) BTW so do I have this feature?
 
I belive it is all machines with OS X and it happens when it is awake. I belive there is way to change the time of the maintenance but I dont remember.
 
The periodical maintenance will not run if the machine is off or sleeping, so unless you want do do it manually, either via Terminal or some 3rd party like OnyX or MainMenu (<- I use this), you can get some utility to help run the periodicals whenever the machine is turned on/woken up, like Anacron.

All these apps are available on Mac OS X Downloads (from your Apple menu) or VersionTracker.
 
fixed latch

Just wanted to report that apple fixed the broken latch for no charge since its still under warranty.

I had a whole defense ready to go to convince them to fix it free, but alas, no questions asked.

I was expecting some grief after reading all the horror stories with apple care. It was a major repair since they had to replace the whole bottom part of the shell.

Fortunately, the whole process was pretty painless, and it took less than week.

-- J.
 
I have a 15" G4 Powerbook (purchased this February 2005). Is it normal that my battery life goes down by around 30-40% a day in the sleep mode when it is not connected to the mains? I have set it to best Battery life in the system preference.

Thanks
 
eAspenwood said:
I was expecting some grief after reading all the horror stories with apple care.
Click to expand...

Thing is you only hear about something like this when it goes wrong. But Apple is consistently rated much higher than all other computer makers in this regard. I've even had Apple fix things that are out of warranty (though that did require some fancy negotiating).
 
I NEVER shut down any of my macs. Minis stay on 24/7, G5 stays on most of the time, sometimes I put it to sleep, and powerbook stays asleep most of the time. No issues.
 
Peter Griffin said:
Can you explain to me this maintenance process when the computer is asleep. I'm new to mac. thanks ;)
Click to expand...
Mkrishnan to the rescue!

Saves me from having to retype it. :D
 
The only times I shut our PowerBooks and iBooks down is if I'm taking them apart to change RAM, HD's, etc. They have run for years. I finally, this week, replaced a five year old battery in my Pismo. That is a very good lifespan for an original battery that has been used extensively at a desk as well as away from the wall power and run 24/7 for over five years.

From my experience designing electronics I will tell you they are better left running. This means less warmup shock which lengthens the life of the components. This is a big reason I like notebook computers. They can run 24/7 and still burn less power in a year than a desktop unit burns in a week - literally, I've measured it.
 
Just curious:

by leaving the PB 15" on all the time (sleep mode or not), does this cause any problems with charging variance for the battery. For instance, I have my new PB for one week and the max charge is now only 97%, yesterday max was 98%. Anyone else seen this?

Also, does leaving the computer on sleep, and leaving it on a desk (for example) overnight, still create a huge amount of heat that will have more wear on the internal workings?

Reason I am asking, I too want to leave my PB in sleep or active most of the time, but I certainly do not want to ruin the PB just because I do not want to shut it down.

Any thoughts?
 
TheBerr said:
Just curious:

by leaving the PB 15" on all the time (sleep mode or not), does this cause any problems with charging variance for the battery. For instance, I have my new PB for one week and the max charge is now only 97%, yesterday max was 98%. Anyone else seen this?

Also, does leaving the computer on sleep, and leaving it on a desk (for example) overnight, still create a huge amount of heat that will have more wear on the internal workings?

Reason I am asking, I too want to leave my PB in sleep or active most of the time, but I certainly do not want to ruin the PB just because I do not want to shut it down.

Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

I seriously doubt it. Anyway seeing as to how it is a new PB I'd really suggest you just give it your all and leave it on... stress it.. etc.

New components tend to fail early (prematurely), so if you have a bunk part it is really a good idea to find out soon rather than when your warranty has expired.
 
I also keep all my Macs on (if you consider the sleep mode is "on"). My old Ti PB is mostly connected to the power source (like 99% of the time) and it still holds 95% to 100% of battery charge (which is the original battery it came with about 4 years ago)

I agree with the previous post that it is better to clear up the virtual memory usages by at least a monthy re-boot (I usually do once ever other week). My Windows PCs will not last a week before I need the reboot as they get so bogged down if I kept them on.

As long as you give your Macs enough air flow for cooling, putting Macs sleep instead of shutting down should do no harm. I have a small clip on fan on my desk to give extra air flow for my PBs which are on the iCurves.
 
Would anybody say there are any major drawbacks to shutting down and starting up completely each time, (apart from the obvious problem with time)?
 
AmbitiousLemon said:
Thing is you only hear about something like this when it goes wrong. But Apple is consistently rated much higher than all other computer makers in this regard. I've even had Apple fix things that are out of warranty (though that did require some fancy negotiating).
Click to expand...

Plus, if anything does go wrong, you just have to email sjobs@apple.com and threaten him with some BBB action. That's how I got my power cord replaced. :D
 
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