What actually happens when mac sleeps?

[di1in]

Could someone please let me know what actually happens under the hood when a mac goes to sleep (like when i close the lid of a mbp)?

I'd also like to know how mac keeps apps alive in the background. When we close an app by using the red cross in the traffic light the app still runs in the bg right, is it kept in the ram?

Hope someone would take the time to answer my noobish questions.

 

[Paulywauly]

Yes all of the components shut down except for RAM (which stores what is currently open) The Airport card can still be switched on to to enable remote wake up

 

[di1in]

Yes all of the components shut down except for RAM (which stores what is currently open) The Airport card can still be switched on to to enable remote wake up

If i never shutdown my mac and only put it to sleep, and since all apps remain live in the background, wouldn't 8gigs of ram be better VFM than getting a ssd. There would also be better write speeds.

 

[di1in]

I'd also like to know how mac keeps apps alive in the background. When we close an app by using the red cross in the traffic light the app still runs in the bg right, is it kept in the ram?

 

[AdrianK]

Yes all of the components shut down except for RAM (which stores what is currently open) The Airport card can still be switched on to to enable remote wake up

OS X creates an image of everything in RAM and writes it to the disk, then restores the sleep-image when the mac is woken up.

If i never shutdown my mac and only put it to sleep, and since all apps remain live in the background, wouldn't 8gigs of ram be better VFM than getting a ssd. There would also be better write speeds.

They don't remain running, RAM is written to the sleep image.

Even if that wasn't the case, apps wouldn't need more memory when the computer is sleeping.

RAM has faster read and write speeds than any HDD/SSD, this will always be the case.

I'd also like to know how mac keeps apps alive in the background. When we close an app by using the red cross in the traffic light the app still runs in the bg right, is it kept in the ram?

Yes, it's still in RAM and there's still a process running.

 

[Jethryn Freyman]

I'd also like to know how mac keeps apps alive in the background. When we close an app by using the red cross in the traffic light the app still runs in the bg right, is it kept in the ram?

Yes, closing a window by clicking the red button doesn't actually quit most programs, it just closes that window.

 

[di1in]

OS X creates an image of everything in RAM and writes it to the disk, then restores the sleep-image when the mac is woken up.

They don't remain running, RAM is written to the sleep image.

Even if that wasn't the case, apps wouldn't need more memory when the computer is sleeping.

If it's stored onto the HDD how is it able to come alive in under a second when i open the lid? Wouldn't it need time for the HDD data to be moved back onto the RAM?

RAM has faster read and write speeds than any HDD/SSD, this will always be the case.

When i said write speeds I meant that my HDD would give me better write speeds for copying media and the RAM would enable me to zip through apps. I am comparing a 8gigram + HDD mac to a 4gig + SSD based one. Sorry if i was confusing earlier.

Yes, closing a window by clicking the red button doesn't actually quit most programs, it just closes that window.

So if I have lots of ram and all the apps that I use are alive on it then would an SSD based mac have any advantage over mine? I also do not shutdown or boot - I just put the mac to sleep. So don't count faster booting.

 

[Sc00tr]

Just get the 8G RAM. That sounds like what you want.

I think that 8G is alot for most people, but it depends on how you use your MAC.

SSD is good for starting up apps & starting up/shutting down.

More RAM is good for having lots of apps open, Apps that require lots of RAM, running a VM such as Parallels or VMware.

Clicking on the red light closes the window and all data associated with it. Most apps will place a blue dot underneath the icon in the dock. The blue dot means that the app is still active in RAM for fast starting.

 

[reputationZed]

they dream of electronic sheep.