Sleep Mode

[HappySnail]

I know it's a stupid question but i only got my mac a few months ago and i was wondering what exactly is sleep mode. I was told to use it rather than just tern it off because,

"Do you shut it off every night? OS X needs to perform maintenance in the early hours of the morning.Better off just putting it to sleep."

Does it stop the processer.
Will applications still run in the background (Torrents).
Will it use up much power.
Are there any Advantages (Is that statement true? Does it need to update?)
Should i just switch it off.

Thanks.

 

[merl1n]

I know it's a stupid question but i only got my mac a few months ago and i was wondering what exactly is sleep mode. I was told to use it rather than just tern it off because,

"Do you shut it off every night? OS X needs to perform maintenance in the early hours of the morning.Better off just putting it to sleep."

Does it stop the processer.
Will applications still run in the background (Torrents).
Will it use up much power.
Are there any Advantages (Is that statement true? Does it need to update?)
Should i just switch it off.

Thanks.

I'll take your questions in order...

1. Sleep mode does just what is says, put the computer to sleep.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_mode

2. Processes (applications) will not run when the computer is in sleep mode and the "maintenance tasks" (these are cron jobs -unix scripts- executed at certain early morning times ) will also NOT take place while the computer is sleeping.

3. Whether you put a computer in sleep mode or just shut down, is your choice. I shutdown every night. For those Maintenance tasks referred to, you can use a free maintenance utility called OnyX and just run them periodically.

4. Sleep mode uses a lot less power than if the computer was running, but it still uses some power.

5. Advantages - Faster startup time than a cold boot.

 

[steeler]

Personally, I use sleep mode if I'm going to be away for an hour or three but plan to come back and work again. Overnight or during the day while I'm at work, I turn it off.