Turning on/off your laptop

[pjrobertson]

In various topics now, I've seen people say that they NEVER turn of their Macbooks / Pros, and only turn off their laptop for upgrades.
Here's one topic where a few people say this is waht they do:
https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=4839334#post4838839

What I don't understand is what you / the people posting do when moving around, or whether they never move their laptop from one position. If so, why did you buy a laptop in the first place?

Mine's nearly always turned off, because I'm constantly moving it.

What's the general consensus?

 

[ghall]

I turn it off if I'm not going to be using it for a while. Usually I turn it on in the morning, and leave it on until I go to bed. Or if I'm going out, I turn it off as well.

 

[swiftaw]

I just use sleep mode when I move it. I take it to work and back every day in sleep mode. Also take it to Europe several times a year in sleep mode.

 

[matt4077]

I shut the lid and it sleeps. What's the advantage of turning it of?

 

[pjrobertson]

I just sleep move it. I take it to work and back every day in sleep mode. Also take it to Europe several times a year in sleep mode.

All in sleep mode?! Travel to Europe (presumable from the US) is a long time!

What do you find is the benefit of leaving it on / in sleep mode?

I shut the lid and it sleeps. What's the advantage of turning it of?

If I'm moving around, to or from school etc. it just feels safer to have it turned off. I suppose deep sleep (blinking light) is OK, but anything else could damage the hard drive.

Battery life could be affected. (possibly not much). How long will your MB / MBP last in sleep mode?

 

[phungy]

When traveling for 2+ hours, I turn it off. Other than that I put it to sleep.

I shut the lid and it sleeps. What's the advantage of turning it of?

Saves battery life (when not plugged in).

 

[JDR]

Mine's nearly always turned off, because I'm constantly moving it.

Same goes for me, unless it's a short haul and I can just close the lid, go, and open it right back up when I arrive and continue where I left off.

I usually have it on Sleep during the day (when not in use obviously) and shut down at night. I've also set it to wake itself at 7am every morning.

 

[GfulDedFan]

I move mine from home to work and back 5 days a week and from upstairs to downstairs and back daily. On the weekends I take it to the lake cottage and while there it may go to a neighbors or outdoors...maybe even a boat ride. I just sleep it and stick it in the bag. I do let it cool down for a few before it goes in the bag but that's it.

 

[pjrobertson]

Do the 'never turn off' people find their laptops become sluggish with time?

People say they've been restarting more often with Leopard, (hopefully more bugs will be ironed out with 10.5.2 - SOON!)

I still think turning off is better.
I suppose wake / boot time is another thing. But I'd say 60 seconds isn't too long to wait.

Anybody know how it affects the lifespan of their Mac? I'm guessing laptops left on 24/7 don't have as long a battery life, and the circuit components must be affected?

 

[marclapierre13]

I always leave mine on, except after installing updates, or switching to boot camp XP, or travelling for long periods of time.

 

[digitalpencil]

I move my MBP around a lot but rarely bother switching it off cause it barely loses any battery life when sleeping. Plus, OS/X is built on unix server technology that is designed to be always-on. Your notebook will run maintenence scripts etc. in the early hours.

 

[JML42691]

My option really isn't there, I turn it off overnight and when going from A-B if the trip will be longer than an hour. So on a usual weekday I'll turn it on in the morning to check for emails (haven't had to do it at all since 1.1.3). But if I did turn it on, I would turn it back off for my hour commute and the first half of the day, I would turn it on to use it during free-periods and during lunch during the day, and then I would sleep it between classes and uses during the day, I would sleep it for my ride home (25-30 minutes) and then sleep it when not in use at home, and then turn it off at night.