Sleep or shut down?

[petercw2]

So as I was leaving the store today with my 12" PB, the guy helping me just shuts the lid and doesnt turn the thing off...!

Being a PC user that is switching, I asked why he didnt turn it off.

"cause it boots faster from sleep!" he replied.

I asked, "so you never turn it off?"

"Not really, not unless it is going to be a LONG time before I need it again" he said dissmissively.


So, should i turn it off at night? Only when I am traveling with it?
Never?

I am a switcher, so please be kind.

peet

 

[Ajmbc]

In Jaguar, (and pretty much OS X in general) it takes quite a while, (about 1:35) for a machine to start up. It is just up to you if you want to turn it off at night, it doesn't hurt anything while it's in sleep. The LCD is off, and the hard disk is off, but your memory is still retained. Once you pop the lid open it's awake. Don't leave a power book with alot of stuff open in sleep mode with out the power hooked up to it, though. This will result in your battery going dead and os X taking even longer to start up for a few times. I just leave mine in sleep with the power adapter hooked up when i'm not using it. It does not slow down the system any.
=Ajmbc=

 

[saabmp3]

Most people never turn their computers off. I have a Ti 667 DVI and keep the thing on unless it needs a restart because of a system update. If I were you I would never turn it off.

I know where your coming from with having to shut down windows computers. This is basically something you never have to do with OS X. All the processes simply go to sleep.

BEN

 

[rainman::|:|]

i have an older powerbook that isn't even running X, and i still never shut it down. the batteries hotswap, so there's no need...

jaguar is stable enough to be used for extended periods of time without a reboot. most people, like saabmp3 said, don't restart for anything other than system updates.

pnw

 

[beatle888]

well im sure he would want to turn it off it he was gonna slip it into a protective sleeve and then into a computer bag. that would get really hot, especialy with no air flow.

 

[topicolo]

Does leaving the battery in the powerbook/ibook while the power adaptor is plugged in diminish its overall charge capacity over the laptop's lifespan? I know that the old NiCad batteries had problems with overcharging, but I also vaguely remember reading that the newer LiIon batteries do so as well, but at a much slower rate.

 

[uhlawboi80]

apple laptops produce almost no heat when sleeping. Sticking it in a sleeve while its sleeping wont get make it get too hot.

Oh, and id agree, you dont really need to shut down OSX ever...well unless you are like me and you keep pulling your computer off networks with network drives mounted. Do that, and OSX is NOT happy.

 

[KingArthur]

Restarting is good for the computer once in a while b/c it completely defragments the RAM. Imagine it like sleeping in real life. If you don't sleep enough, you start confusing things easily and things are not as easy to remember. Sort of the same with a computer. The RAM gets fragmented all the time, and a restart is like a fresh beginning. It will improve performance some by doing that.

Also, being in sleep mode doesn't produce heat (or at least any that can be detected), so putting it in a laptop case isn't a big deal. Just watch out that you might end up draining the battery with programs open, and then you lose anything that wasn't saved.

 

[beatle888]

i dont know, ive had my computer come out of sleep mode while in its sleeve and it was hot...well it was warm.

 

[KingArthur]

Hmmmm.....they shouldn't have a problem, but then again, I don't own a current TiBook. Maybe Apple has some design flaws in it that does that, but my PC laptop never has problems with sleep producing any heat at all.

 

[timbloom]

I leave my ibook in sleep mode almost all the time in it's sleeve, it will run like that for weeks. never does it even get warm, stays as cool as it would be if it was off. I don't suggest you should go out and do this right away, all machines are different. But other than that little pulsing light on the front of my ibook, it is doing absolutely nothing to warm itself at all. Just open it back up, and I am just where I left off last time.

 

[alex_ant]

Originally posted by topicolo
Does leaving the battery in the powerbook/ibook while the power adaptor is plugged in diminish its overall charge capacity over the laptop's lifespan? I know that the old NiCad batteries had problems with overcharging, but I also vaguely remember reading that the newer LiIon batteries do so as well, but at a much slower rate.

The only time you'll have problems with overcharging is when you have a charger that is not "smart" and doesn't know when to stop charging. Apple laptops are "smart" and will stop charging the battery once it gets to 100%. After it's at 100%, if you're on AC, it will slowly drain away naturally over a couple weeks to the point where it's at 95%, and then it will get charged again and the cycle repeats. The best thing you can do for your battery is to leave as much charge in it as possible at all times, so the AC adapter is a very good thing.

 

[patrick0brien]

Re: Sleep or shut down?

Originally posted by petercw2
So, should i turn it off at night?

-petercw2

Well, as Apple is first to tout, OS X is BSD UNIX - it's designed for 99% uptime. So you don't really ever have to turn it off, unless of course for a sysupdate.

When asleep, it only uses a teensy sliver of power (100mw? Guys?) so you can sleep it for about a month or so. Wild huh?