What to do with MacBook at night?

[CBA]

OK, so I'm not the only one. 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.

There is of course this mode too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co9qBme4Dgk

 

[jnc]

There is of course this mode too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co9qBme4Dgk

Wow. I wasn't expecting that

 

[mckyvlle]

by the way, do these tasks automatically happen or do they have to be set up to work?

The periodic scripts are already setup to run automatically in Mac OS X.

 

[toby jones]

> 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?

Absolutely! I prop myself up with pillows and check email or watch DVD's with it on my lap. It is perfectly fine for that, but in hotter weather I'll rest it on a hardcover book on my lap so it gets better ventilation.

I take my macbook with me everywhere... If you get a decent backpack that distributes the weight well then it is perfectly fine to do that. I have wireless access on campus and use it around my room... In the kitchen... In the lounge... At the cafe across the road... In my office etc etc etc.


]

 

[luffytubby]

> 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?

Absolutely! I prop myself up with pillows and check email or watch DVD's with it on my lap. It is perfectly fine for that, but in hotter weather I'll rest it on a hardcover book on my lap so it gets better ventilation.

I take my macbook with me everywhere... If you get a decent backpack that distributes the weight well then it is perfectly fine to do that. I have wireless access on campus and use it around my room... In the kitchen... In the lounge... At the cafe across the road... In my office etc etc etc.


]

cool. Thanks mate.

I was worried that I would need something like an EEE Pc for that stuff.. but the screen and keyboard on that thing is so small that it just... ugh..

 

[brisweeney]

should i shut down my macbook before travelling with it,or is simply closing the lip and sleeping it ok? is the HDD going to be safe whilst travelling in my bag, i put it in a neoprene softcase of course!

 

[DoFoT9]

at night i will
1. make sure my batteries are charged
2. take out the battery (leaving power in of course)
3. turn on folding to 80% CPU
4. put some music on for a bit
5. go to sleep

trying to do my bit for the world hahaha

 

[eXan]

at night i will
1. make sure my batteries are charged
2. take out the battery (leaving power in of course)
3. turn on folding to 80% CPU
4. put some music on for a bit
5. go to sleep

trying to do my bit for the world hahaha

Why just not plug it in and let it fold @ 100%?

 

[Rangers30]

Interesting. I'm getting a MacBook soon but my husband can't believe my laptop is still working considering I almost never turn it off. I've had it 4 years and it's still kicking.

 

[mckyvlle]

should i shut down my macbook before travelling with it,or is simply closing the lip and sleeping it ok? is the HDD going to be safe whilst travelling in my bag, i put it in a neoprene softcase of course!

I normally just sleep mine while on commercial flights. During sleep, the HDD is shutdown. Keeping the RAM powered takes a tiny bit of battery power though.

 

[DoFoT9]

Why just not plug it in and let it fold @ 100%?

it gets a BIT to hot for my liking, come on ive got a Core Duo hahaha, ive got to give it a bit of a break sometime

 

[eXan]

it gets a BIT to hot for my liking, come on ive got a Core Duo hahaha, ive got to give it a bit of a break sometime

but why take out the battery?

 

[EglMtn]

I never turn mine off. I just shut the lid when I need to put the computer away.

 

[toby jones]

It shouldn't get hot while it is sleeping... It isn't really doing anything... The fans shouldn't go...

That being said, I have heard that some people have trouble with their macs not sleeping properly...

I sleep mine when I transport it. I wait to make sure it is sleeping (checking the sleep light) and then put it in its sleeve and put it in my bag. I've never had a problem with that. It has never woken when it shouldn't.

I turn it off for flights - because I wasn't sure whether it was okay to sleep it during taking off and landing...

It has been a significant adjustment for me to get used to sleeping my laptop instead of turning it on and off (which I did with my previous acer computer). The power consumption of it being plugged in and turned on while sleeping is less than a lightbulb... Not sure how it compares to a Tv on standby / your plugged in toaster etc etc etc. I'm not sure it makes an impact on global warming compared with those things...

My computer takes a while to turn on from 'off', though. Waking it from sleep is MUCH more convenient for me.

 

[maestro55]

I usually shut it down and put it back in its back at night so the next morning I can just grab it and take it with me. Sometimes when I have it hooked up to the Dell Monitor I leave it on just folding but I haven't done that in awhile.

 

[Tom B.]

I always just put my MacBook to sleep when I am not using it. I only shut it down if I will not be using it for about 3 or more days, though I still restart it at least twice a week.

 

[DoFoT9]

but why take out the battery?

if i leave the battery plugged in charging every night that will take out a lot more overall capacity of the battery. and after a year that may lead to a 30min-1hr difference in battery charge.

another reason is that while folding with battery the fans sit on about 4krpm at 80°C, without the battery the fans sit on 1krpm (stock speeds) at about 60°C, massive change so i dont mind taking it out.

 

[irchriscdk]

I definitely almost always have a computer with me, so I never turn the, off - just sleep.

Fears about this harming the battery are a bit outdated - I believe someone earlier said that they fixed this problem "like 30 years ago". This was indeed an issue with older NiCd batteries but most new rechargeable devices (laptops, phones, ipods, etc) use some form of either Lithium-Ion or Lithium-Polymer batteries which do not suffer from things like "memory" and so forth.

 

[eXan]

if i leave the battery plugged in charging every night that will take out a lot more overall capacity of the battery. and after a year that may lead to a 30min-1hr difference in battery charge.

Ehhhhhh When it says its fully charged, its not longer charging. And sometimes computer takes more power than available in power cord, so it uses the additional power from the battery. If there's no battery the computer will shut down.

Even Apple recommends not to use the computer without battery!

EDIT: also I think (I didn't check on mine) that Apple laptops run at only 1/2 of CPU's clock speed without the battery - to minimize the risk of needing more power than power cord can provide. This must be why your system runs much cooler without the battery.

 

[vansouza]

I just shut the lids on my MB and MBP. Open the lid in the morning and all is well.

 

[DoFoT9]

Ehhhhhh When it says its fully charged, its not longer charging. And sometimes computer takes more power than available in power cord, so it uses the additional power from the battery. If there's no battery the computer will shut down.

that means that extra cycles will eventually be used, the battery is constantly getting charged/recharged (minimalistically speaking). this could also produce other problems
1. battery overcharges
2. battery explodes/expands
3. battery overheats
4. computer overheats (especially when folding)
5. as a result of 4: fans get used more

Even Apple recommends not to use the computer without battery!

ahwell, never had any problems except when we have a blackout

EDIT: also I think (I didn't check on mine) that Apple laptops run at only 1/2 of CPU's clock speed without the battery - to minimize the risk of needing more power than power cord can provide. This must be why your system runs much cooler without the battery.

when you take out the battery (in my mbp) it will get clocked back to 1ghz. i dont even notice a slow down so why bother? it runs MUCH cooler and more quieter so i can actually sleep at night.

 

[eXan]

that means that extra cycles will eventually be used, the battery is constantly getting charged/recharged (minimalistically speaking). this could also produce other problems
1. battery overcharges
2. battery explodes/expands
3. battery overheats
4. computer overheats (especially when folding)
5. as a result of 4: fans get used more

If all of those was true, Apple wouldn't recommend leaving the battery in, would it?

In case you don't know, the battery in Mac notebooks doesn't start recharging until it has 95 or 96 % of charge still left. This prevents unnecessary cycles.

when you take out the battery (in my mbp) it will get clocked back to 1ghz. i dont even notice a slow down so why bother? it runs MUCH cooler and more quieter so i can actually sleep at night.

But since you're folding, don't you want to get the parts done in as little time as possible? Right now it takes you twice as much time to fold the same amount of data because of CPU running at 1/2 of the speed.

 

[DoFoT9]

If all of those was true, Apple wouldn't recommend leaving the battery in, would it?

no but then that defeats the purpose of a laptop doesnt it.

In case you don't know, the battery in Mac notebooks doesn't start recharging until it has 95 or 96 % of charge still left. This prevents unnecessary cycles.

if what you say is true heres how i see it. for ~5% to be used on my laptop takes about 8 minutes. so if every 8 minutes the battery is being used until there is 95%-96% left then recharged (continously throughtout the night) then that will in evidently lead to 1 extra cycle being used.

But since you're folding, don't you want to get the parts done in as little time as possible? Right now it takes you twice as much time to fold the same amount of data because of CPU running at 1/2 of the speed.

yes of course i want as fast as i want, what i dont want is heat!!! for my laptop to keep itself cool while folding takes a large amount of fan speed, this leads to faster physical damage on these fans, the CPU runs hotter and leading to more parts being wasted quicker. if that is the case then i can sacrifice the twice as long time period needed to perform the folding.

 

[dannewell15]

i bought the iBone.

 

[skye12]

Its not really on when its sleeping and thus no need to keep it plugged in.
I've done this for nearly 5 years and maybe thats why my original battery
is still functional.

It is still good to shut down your computer every week or two to "clean" up
things like swap files etc. and reset your pram.