Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Turn if off. I have no place to let it stay plugged in overnight, until I get a new desk in my room, so I put it in a drawer, and let it rest that way.
 
I trun off my iBook every night. It gets really hot, even when it's sleeping, so I give it a break.

Call me overcautious, but I don't think it helps the computers life span if it's left on all the time, but maybe that's just me.


It shouldn't be getting really hot while sleeping. I would get that checked.
 
It shouldn't be getting really hot while sleeping. I would get that checked.

True. When sleeping, Macs power only RAM and sometimes USB/Firewire ports. It shouldn't heat up at all.

When I wake my Macs from sleep they are at the ambient room temp.
 
just close the top and it sleeps.
our 17" MBP is our kitchen pc. it s job is to be ready for a quick lookup or weather check.

I should put my clamp ammeter on the circuit (dedicated circuit for this outlet) to view the difference in draw between sleeping and off but plugged in.
 
I looked into this issue a while ago because I heard someone say that it was better for them to sleep and wake rather than shutting down and booting up.

It seems that this issue is very controversial (if you google it, anyhow).

One thought is that things really have to move when you boot it up from cold. The change in state (from cold to warm) isn't good for it. Another thought is that it goes from cold to warm when you wake it from sleep anyway. So... One wouldn't seem to be worse than the other in that respect.

I made the move (which I still feel a little odd about) and now I don't turn it off (except for flights). Just close the lid and check that it is sleeping before I put it into a skin case.

Apparently you should unplug it sometimes and run the battery. Once a month you should drain it and let it sit for 2 hours then charge it then let it sit for two hours. To check that it is calibrated so it isn't trying to charge when the battery is full and to make sure that it estimates the remaining charge correctly. Also to get the electrons moving through the battery (important to do that every now and then). Mostly... Mine is plugged in. But I'll work at a cafe for about 3 or 4 hours a day. Perfect.

:)

Bootup isn't THAT slow, but waking from sleep is MUCH faster. I'll reboot if it gets buggy and / or after updates (about once a week). I also try and remember to quit applications that I don't use frequently to keep it running smoothly (e.g., X11 and Powerpoint).
 
I had a strange wake-up this AM for the MBP... sleeping, tethered to the cinema display... the display woke up with a flash of light blue and then white noise-style static in a frozen pattern. I checked the laptop's own internal display by reslepping it and then opening without the display hooked up, and I got a total video driver wonk: it looked like a Commodore 64 was trying to draw the mac desktop, giant bouncing pixels about 4mm square... crazy.
I rebooted, and everything was back to normal...
 
I keep it on 24/7. I never use screensaver. I think it is nuisance. I use Caffeine when I am doing something and go from computer for a few minutes- it shuts down screen. Other times I put it to sleep.
 
iTunes

I let it sleep with the lid up so my automator alarm can wake me up with iTunes.
 
I feel so bad because it's not exactly eco friendly. I rarely shut it down, I let it sleep with the lid closed at night while it's plugged in so it's ready to go.
 
I feel so bad because it's not exactly eco friendly. I rarely shut it down, I let it sleep with the lid closed at night while it's plugged in so it's ready to go.

There are probably worse energy vampires in your house -- perhaps a TV left on standby? :rolleyes:

For leaving my MacBook on overnight, I take the bus and walk to college to even out my carbon footprint. :p
 
I hear that every time you shut down your macbook any temporary caches will be deleted, so it's good to shut down your computer like once a week or once a month or something like that just to keep your computer clean. I'm not real sure though, it just makes sense lol.
 
I turn my MacBook off, unplug it and put it in a padded sleeve. It then goes into storage until I next need to use it.

(It gets used maybe five days a week.)
 
I leave mine plugged in and awake but I turn the brightness to zero. That way the blinking sleep light doesn't bug me all night long.

I either do this or shut the lid, depending on whether or not I've got tasks running in the background (downloads, video compression). Either way, no problems after two years, except of course that my battery is really getting worn out.
 
I cuddle with my macbook and go to sleep peacefully. (ya rly)

OK, so I'm not the only one. :p I usually do that because I often browse the web or listen to music while lying in bed, so it's the path of least resistance to just close the lid and set it down on the bed.
 
I hear that every time you shut down your macbook any temporary caches will be deleted, so it's good to shut down your computer like once a week or once a month or something like that just to keep your computer clean. I'm not real sure though, it just makes sense lol.

Eh? I heard the opposite. There are background cleaning tasks that runs in the wee hours of the morning. But in any case just run sudo periodic daily weekly monthly.
 
I quite often work in bed but when I go to sleep I place mine carefully on the floor at the foot of the bed. Call me paranoid but I'm too afraid of SIDS - I'm scared I might accidentally roll on it and squash / kill it in my sleep...
 
I turn it off when I know I won't be using it for several hours. Even though the sleep mode is similar to shutting the machine down, it's still not the same. Plus, there's only about a 15 second difference from full shut down and sleep mode...I like to give my machine some down time :)
 
I turn it off when I know I won't be using it for several hours. Even though the sleep mode is similar to shutting the machine down, it's still not the same. Plus, there's only about a 15 second difference from full shut down and sleep mode...I like to give my machine some down time :)

True, that's more or less the amount of time a Mac needs to startup/shutdown.

But a lot of people would like to have a continuation of their work after the have left their Mac. Things like browser windows, e-mail, Xcode, word processing, spreadsheets etc. As far as I know, Mac OS X does not save the state of every program when shutting down, so upon restarting, a good load of time is needed to get all the programs back to their previous state. This is where sleep mode trounces shut down. Wake your Mac, and BOOM! In seconds you are back where you were. ;)
 
But a lot of people would like to have a continuation of their work after the have left their Mac. Things like browser windows, e-mail, Xcode, word processing, spreadsheets etc. As far as I know, Mac OS X does not save the state of every program when shutting down, so upon restarting, a good load of time is needed to get all the programs back to their previous state. This is where sleep mode trounces shut down. Wake your Mac, and BOOM! In seconds you are back where you were. ;)

That + longer time needed to start up/shut down is why I'm always using the Sleep.
 
is there a way to let it keep downloading while the lid is shut i know on window machines u can go when lid shut do nothing except shut of screen?
 
are any of you able to lay in bed on a saturday or sunday morning, and browse the web or watch a movie... with it in bed... just having it on your lap or on your chest, or on a pillow?


I wonder if macbook is really small/light/comfortable enough to be an item I can carry with me around the apartment and just be connected constantly with wireless internet... so I can take it with me everywhere I go...
 
Depends what I was doing before, if I've got xp running I'll switch it off since I only use xp for games otherwise I'll let it sleep so I can continue working the next morning.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.