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triton

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 15, 2003
172
0
Ok, one more stupid question. I've never understood the sleep mode in ANY computer. When should I use the sleep mode on my mac? Any advantages of doing this, rather than shutting it down? Disadvantages? THX
 
Re: Sleep?

Originally posted by triton
Ok, one more stupid question. I've never understood the sleep mode in ANY computer. When should I use the sleep mode on my mac? Any advantages of doing this, rather than shutting it down? Disadvantages? THX
I haven't actually "switched" yet, so I don't know the particulars of how Apple's computers' sleep mode works. But generally speaking, the advantage of putting your computer into "sleep" mode versus just shutting it down are that the computer doesn't need to reload the operating system when it "wakes up". So you save that minute or two of bootup time. Another advantage is that all of your application windows remain open, in the same places, etc. and so you don't have to start those back up again, reload documents, etc.
 
After I moved, my Mac has its own room now. That's why I don't turn it off anymore. (Before, it stood in the same room as my bed, so I had to shut it down.)

One BIG advantage is, that your computer is ready at once. When I come home from work, I just wake it up and it's ready to go. No more waiting while it's booting.
 
-Triton

Damn boy! You're all over the place today!

In answer to your question... I'm sure you'ver heard "OS X Never Crashes". Well aside from the fact that it does, though veeeery rarely at one Kernel Panic per year, OS X is designed to be robust and protect against crashes, and to never be shut down. You pay for this stability with a long startup time.

But, as said, it's not necessary to shut it down. Aside from a 1%/hr battery draw when sleeping, there just no advantage to it.

As of this thread, my 12PB's uptime is 16 days 12 hours, and 56 minutes.
 
Thanks guys ! I really appreciate all of the info. I haven't entirely made the switch yet, I am still practicing on my dad's new imac. I am just WAITING for the new G5. It's been a long time coming.


Special thx to Patrick Obrien for answering all of my threads this morning !:D
 
I have found SLEEP in OS X to be much better than HIBERNATE in Windows XP.

Not only does my Mac spring to usable life from SLEEP in only 5 seconds or so, it doesn't crash if it's waking after putting itself to SLEEP while programs are running.

Compare that to my Dell running XP Home, which takes about 20-30 seconds to fully wake from HIBERNATE, and more than 10 percent of the time needs to be restarted if it's gone into HIBERNATE while programs are running.

SLEEP is one of the features of OS X that folks who don't have to spend part of their life in the Windows world don't appreciate as much as they should.

SLEEP rocks.
 
my favorite advantage is that since you can sleep with programs/docs running, you can automate it-- set your Mac to sleep after, say, 30 minutes of inactivity. It's energy efficient (all of Apple's products have been EnergyStar approved for a very long time), and it saves wear on your screen/harddrive, the two most likely pieces of equipment to break down from normal usage...

pnw
 
Yeah sleep is rock solid reliable. On my power book you can sleep it and then take the battery out, put a new one in and then wake it up. You have thirty seconds and everything is like it was. Really awesome.

(((k)))
 
Another Sleep Question

Following this topic, I too have a question. I usually use sleep mode whenever I'm going to be away from my Mac for more than just a few minutes (although I also sometimes leave it up to enjoy watching the fishes in my Aquarium 2.0 screen saver). When I come back, say in a few hours or the next day, my Mail Inbox has continued to retrieve new mail while the Mac was sleeping. I have an 'always on' broadband connection, but didn't think that any computer activity would occur in sleep mode. Apparently even though the hard drive spins down, some activity still occurs. Is there any other activity going on when the Mac is in sleep mode? Are there any risks from online hackers when in sleep mode? :confused:
 
Re: Another Sleep Question

Originally posted by OnaMacSince1989
Following this topic, I too have a question. I usually use sleep mode whenever I'm going to be away from my Mac for more than just a few minutes (although I also sometimes leave it up to enjoy watching the fishes in my Aquarium 2.0 screen saver). When I come back, say in a few hours or the next day, my Mail Inbox has continued to retrieve new mail while the Mac was sleeping. I have an 'always on' broadband connection, but didn't think that any computer activity would occur in sleep mode. Apparently even though the hard drive spins down, some activity still occurs. Is there any other activity going on when the Mac is in sleep mode? Are there any risks from online hackers when in sleep mode? :confused:

There's no hard drive or CPU activity during this time (and network activity can wake up the computer, but I think that option is disabled by default). What may be happening is that when you take your computer out of sleep, Mail downloads your new email before you get a chance to notice.

I believe only the RAM and some caches are powered (and the pulsing white LED) in sleep. The network card is turned to a low-power mode (or maybe even off, since it's not in use), so there's no risk of hackers. (there might be other parts that are enabled, but I'm pretty sure its limited only to volatile memory)
 
-triton

FriarTuck makes a good distinction that I'd like to point out.

Macs "sleep" and that's a pretty accurate metaphor, it's low power, and can last a long time. Like we humans, when we sleep we're not actually "off", but we certainly aren't moving.

Windows "Hibernates", meaning a low power mode and can last a long time. But, like bears, if you wake one from hibernation, bad things often occur that can lead to screams, shouting, destruction, and injuries.

:D
 
Great Metaphor Patrick ! Thanks ! All of your feedback has been tremendoous. I look forward to hanging out in these forums until I get the hang of things. I always used to cut into the Registry of my PC, and help hack into programs etc. But I feel like a new born babe with the MAC. And the more I work with it, the more wonderful it feels.

Mac OS X has earned my respect, even more than OS 9 - and I didn't think that was possible. Thanks guys!
 
Originally posted by PHARAOHk
Yeah sleep is rock solid reliable. On my power book you can sleep it and then take the battery out, put a new one in and then wake it up. You have thirty seconds and everything is like it was. Really awesome.

(((k)))

Wow, I didn't realize you can change the batteries in sleep mode. Is that documented somewhere? it only works with PowerBooks?
 
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