When to put to sleep and when to shut down?

[doxavita]

Someone please explain me in detail when it's best to put a MBP to sleep and when to shut it down.

Personally, I shut down every night and boot it the next morning.

 

[marshallbedsaul]

this would be helpful to know for me as well good question

 

[JoshGlzBrk]

It's all personal choice... It's the same as any other laptop. If you don't want instant boot up but want to save battery turn it off, if you want instant bootup and want the battery to still be in use use sleep.

There is nothing special you have to do just because it's an apple laptop.

 

[doxavita]

I recall reading that if I don't use the MBP for up to 2 days, then it's best to shut it down.

 

[GGJstudios]

I recall reading that if I don't use the MBP for up to 2 days, then it's best to shut it down.

There's no rule, one way or another. I usually only shut down when installing updates. Otherwise, you can just use sleep whenever you're not using it. Many users here have uptime (time between shutdowns) from several days to a few months.

Do you shut down your Macbook Pro when you are not using it?

 

[doxavita]

Is there a limit to the amount of time a MBP can be in sleep mode? (like before the battery gets completely drained)

 

[GGJstudios]

Is there a limit to the amount of time a MBP can be in sleep mode? (like before the battery gets completely drained)

You can leave it plugged in while sleeping. If you're on battery, you'll use somewhere around 1% of battery for every hour in sleep mode. YMMV.

Apple Portables: Battery terminology and key concepts

Sleep drain: You may notice the battery in your Apple portable may drain up to 1% per hour (24% per day) while the computer is in sleep mode. This is normal behavior.

 

[doxavita]

Do you shut down your Macbook Pro when you are not using it?

Reading a few posts into this link you provided, they mention that shutting down, can in the long run, wear out the hard drive a bit more than just letting it sleep. Any thoughts?

 

[GGJstudios]

Reading a few posts into this link you provided, they mention that shutting down, can in the long run, wear out the hard drive a bit more than just letting it sleep. Any thoughts?

The hard drive is not affected differently between sleep or shut down. In both cases, the hard drive is not spinning.

 

[Nermal]

Technically there'd be less wear on the drive after sleeping since it won't have to reload the OS. However, the difference would be negligible.

I always use sleep. The only times I've shut down are when taking the computer on a plane or changing hardware.

 

[Mac-key]

I hardly ever reboot. Maybe once every 10 days or so.

Only time I shut it down is when I fly, or travel long distances in my car.

 

[C64]

In the 3.5 years I've had my current MacBook I have actually never turned it off, for more than a few minutes at least.

 

[frunkis54]

Do you guys turn off or sleep when going to work or school and back?

 

[GGJstudios]

Do you guys turn off or sleep when going to work or school and back?

Sleep when going anywhere.

 

[Fubar1977]

I usually shut down or reboot my Win7 machines daily or weekly as a MacOS newbie I am finding it interesting that the Mac seemingly isn`t bothered by long periods of no rebooting as this always seems to cause me problems/instability after a while in Windows.

I guess I`m also a little paranoid that my system and data are somehow more "vulnerable" when the machine is asleep instead of completely shutdown.

 

[wordoflife]

Does it really matter?

 

[RonShort]

I hardly ever shut mine down... Usually just a reboot when installing updates.

For me thought my mbp rarely goes unused for more than a few hours. The longest is usually while I sleep..

 

[Adidas Addict]

Sleep all the time, only reboot after software update.