Why would I want to put my MBA to sleep?

[macdudesir]

That makes 4% a day, and 4*30 gives 120%... Please tell year and size, anyone else is also welcome to report!

If it sleeps for exactly 30 days...it looses 3.333333333333% a day (exact...not 1/3...no repeating...30*3.333333333333=100) haha just had to

EDIT: Nevermind spotlight rounded it...its is 3.33...........

 

[MattZani]

Leaving it on all the time plugged in isn't great for the battery is it? I use mine as a desktop a lot, but every few days I untether and use it out/on the sofa and run it dead.

 

[johnhurley]

Leaving it on all the time plugged in isn't great for the battery is it? I use mine as a desktop a lot, but every few days I untether and use it out/on the sofa and run it dead.

Yeah that sounds like a good usage. The battery these days are pretty advanced ( well at least that what you think until your unit catches fire right ? ) ... you just don't want to always have the power into it.

I probably go for up to 10 days or 2 weeks before I remember to let it go unplugged for a while.

 

[Funkymonk]

is it safe to NEVER shutdown?

I normally shutdown my air because of my own ocd paranoia

 

[yegon]

is it safe to NEVER shutdown?

I normally shutdown my air because of my own ocd paranoia

My 3 y/o mbp is still going strong and has only been shut down when I've gone on holiday, the mba won't be any different.

One thing I love about the mba is that I don't have to leave it plugged in so I have practically full battery when I come back to it - my mbp, even new, lost a couple % an hour if sleeping unplugged, meaning I left it plugged in ALL the time when I wasn't using it. I can happily leave my MBA unplugged and see minimal battery loss, and it's surely healthier in the long run than leaving it plugged in for days on end at 100%.

Really though, your best bet is not to stress about the battery and just use it anyway you wish, though I still maintain shutting it down for periods is completely pointless.

 

[Confuzzzed]

none of you super geeks are going to own a machine for more than 4-5 years without craving for the newest and bestest (that's why you are here, right?) so just use your damn machine as it pleases you and chilax as they say over here. Let the longevity of the battery and HDD be someone else's concern that you sold your 2 year old machine to. Just an idea

 

[maddog91]

I shut my laptop down every so often just because I feel that it kinda "resets" everything. Starts fresh when you turn it off and on..Thats how I feel,is it true? Idk, but It doesn't hurt to make your laptop work all the way..

 

[fade-]

nowadays i don't shut down because of that annoying launchpad rearranging icons bug.

 

[vitzr]

I never turn my air off. I simply shut the lid and it sleeps. When I open the
It it's instantly on. Macs have a safe sleep, so it writes the memory to disk before the battery goes completely flat. If its gone into safe sleep then it will take a little longer to wake.
I used to power down my old macs and boot up every time I used the, looking back it seems a bit stupid. Why wait 10 seconds when you can have it in 2 or 3...

On my Ducati 999R Fila... Whoops wrong forum

I sleep my MBA between appointments & meetings during the day, then shut it down when not using it.

If it was my only Mac I'd probably use a different routine.

 

[57004]

I shut my laptop down every so often just because I feel that it kinda "resets" everything. Starts fresh when you turn it off and on..Thats how I feel,is it true? Idk, but It doesn't hurt to make your laptop work all the way..

Yeah me too But Apple broke that in Lion, if you don't uncheck the 'Reopen my programs again on startup' every single time, you get the same mess back the next time One of the few features in Lion I really don't like.

 

[js81]

Turning on a computer is about the cruelest thing you can do to it. It's the most stressful part of its day. I rarely reboot my Macs (usually just for software updates that require one) and I always put them to sleep to spare the core components the pain of startup.

I've disagreed with this ^^ for years, even though many people preached it. I still stand against it and advise all of my friends and customers to SHUT DOWN at the end of the day. Take for example my home PC - I don't get home from work until at least 4pm every day; why in the world should it be running, wasting power and wear-and-tear on my components, while no one is there to use it? I also go to bed each night around 12 and don't have time to use it in the mornings (if I want to check something fast I can use my iPad anyway). They way I see it, my computer is on for at most 8 hours a day this way, rather than 24. Same applies to my work PC, except in reverse.

And it appears I'm not alone...
http://www.pcworld.com/article/240118/turn_a_pc_off_or_leave_it_on.html

My laptop is another story, though - I usually leave my MBP "on." I just close the lid and put it to sleep whenever I'm finished.

 

[LordVic]

I've disagreed with this ^^ for years, even though many people preached it. I still stand against it and advise all of my friends and customers to SHUT DOWN at the end of the day. Take for example my home PC - I don't get home from work until at least 4pm every day; why in the world should it be running, wasting power and wear-and-tear on my components, while no one is there to use it? I also go to bed each night around 12 and don't have time to use it in the mornings (if I want to check something fast I can use my iPad anyway). They way I see it, my computer is on for at most 8 hours a day this way, rather than 24. Same applies to my work PC, except in reverse.

And it appears I'm not alone...
http://www.pcworld.com/article/240118/turn_a_pc_off_or_leave_it_on.html

My laptop is another story, though - I usually leave my MBP "on." I just close the lid and put it to sleep whenever I'm finished.

You're not alone. it is a myth that "starting your computer is stressful on it".

this myth dates back to old AT days. when computers had mechanical power switches that actually activated the power supply directly by closing a circuit. A lot of failures in computers early days happened when turning on the computer because well, it was early tech, and mechanically throwing a switch which suddenly jolted power, often unpredictably down to every device all at once.

once the move to ATX motherboards, tech and power supplies came around, much of this was eliminated. Powersupplies were no longer started by physically closing the circuit but by electronic controls. Believe it or not, your power button on your computer, goes to your motherboard first, which then tells your PSU to start up.

As for "load on the system" that is caused by a computer start up? it is no different than say, running a game, or anything else that would need to access data quickly from your disc, load it to memory, and provide constant power. There is no additional wear to components by starting up windows / OSx than there is starting up World of Warcraft or your favourite shooter.

Quite the opposite is true by leaving your computer on constantly however. When you turn off your computer, it does nothing. there is little to no power usage (modern computers always draw current unless unplugged). What ends up happening, while your computer is running is well, all the parts in use, continue to be in use. Your power supply continues to be under load. your video card, CPU, and all your fancy expensive components continue to be utilized. Heat is still generated, fans continue to spin. In short, leaving your computer ON, continues to use the limited lifespan of all parts. While todays hardware's lifespan can be measured likely in Decades, this wasn't always the case. Even hard drives today are a primary point of failure because constant non stop use wears down mechanical parts. Heat from active parts always has a negative, even if minuscule affect on all computer parts. Plus not to mention the sheer amount of power draw and waste.

And your computer you leave on during the day isn't just sitting idle as well. Many modern Operating systems perform "idle tasks". windows for example when detecting long periods of inactivity can and often does hard drive maintenance such as defraging

SO, is it safer to turn your computer off or leave it on between uses? Turning it off should prolong the life of any computer if you have no need for it to be left on.

Newer computers with fewer and fewer moving parts, the Macbook Air for example only has a single moving fan that more often than not is powered down, really won't matter too much in the long run, aside from the obvious power consumption.

Going to sleep is pretty close to powering down in regards to power consumption and load on the power usage.

What shutting down provides is clearing out the RAM. With no power, RAM is empty, So when you start your computer up the next time, the computer will go through it's boot sequence and load all fresh new data from the hard drive to system memory. This is why when you call for Tech support, they often ask "have you restarted / shut down your computer". sometimes after too long running, without realizing it, programs leave bits of data behind. or lock little bits of ram accidentally (memory leaks) and overall performance might degrade or conflicts might arise. Rebooting and shutting down will always clear the contents of RAM.

 

[ET iPhone Home]

I too, put my MBA to sleep. Only do I shut down, when required by an update.

 

[calvol]

Putting to sleep adds to the battery cycle count to the tune of 1 per month if you're ok with that. I let mine sleep during the day when not using, and shut down nightly to avoid the constant battery drain.

 

[wgnoyes]

I've found the whole sleep thing odd. I've been using XP at the office (and on the move) for a long time as part of my day to day work and found that putting the laptop to sleep seemed to cause more problems than it solved.
...

That's XP. I've never trusted a windows operating system to sleep or hibernate; it's a coin toss as to whether it comes back up normally. OS X doesn't suffer from this. Let it sleep; it'll be fine.

 

[Internaut]

That's XP. I've never trusted a windows operating system to sleep or hibernate; it's a coin toss as to whether it comes back up normally. OS X doesn't suffer from this. Let it sleep; it'll be fine.

This is the aspect of the MacBook Air I'm really, seriously enjoying. I put the MacBook Air on the kitchen table for the first time in four days this afternoon, opened it up and everything was just there (well at least after I'd entered my password), complete with a battery just short of 80%! All the applications I had open and all the web pages were there and within seconds I was adding a couple of paragraphs to a blog I've been working on in Evernote.