# With your Mac, do you...



## Nameisnobody (Oct 3, 2006)

put it to sleep or do you shut it down?
I use my Mac everyday, so its always put to sleep whenever Im not using it.
Will doing this have any negative effects on my Mac?
Is it recommended to shut it down instead?


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## python911 (Oct 14, 2006)

The only real difference between a mac being on sleep and being powered down is that when your mac is asleep, a little power is given to the RAM so that what is running in the system memory is kept instead of, when you power down, it is wiped.
Technically putting it to sleep means there is still stress on the RAM where as when it is powered down, there is not but this is not really going to make any difference to you to be honest. Also modern macs have a soft power so there is very little stress on the components during powering up.

Basically sleep it if you'll use it in a couple of hours. Power it down if you're going to bed. If there is a powercut, you'll lose whatever you were doing if it's not been saved and the computer has been powered down properly.


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## VegasACF (May 27, 2005)

The following is from this site.



> This topic is oft debated in many Mac forums, and does not really have a concrete answer; a lot depends on what you do with your Mac, and what Mac you use. Before deciding whether to shut down or sleep your Mac, you should know (a) what happens in each process, and (b) the pros and cons to both practices.
> 
> Sleeping
> 
> ...


I've always been told by people with more computing experience and knowledge than me that shutting down and starting up a computer is, generally, the hardest thing you can do to the components of your computer. I've also been told the same thing about starting up a car, but yet we have to do that for obvious reasons. The above missive seems fairly well-reasoned, so I'll cast my vote in that direction.


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## Nameisnobody (Oct 3, 2006)

Ah thanks guys.
Ok lets say, I put my Mac to sleep and there was a power outage that happened during the night? Will the Mac be in any way damaged during the electrical flux? Or will it be similar to shutting it down?

But aside from that, I'd say I will keep my Mac to sleep when its not in use.


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## VegasACF (May 27, 2005)

It will be more harmful than shutting it down if the power goes out. But it (probably) won't be deadly. Power surges are more a danger than outages. 

And you can always set your Mac to restart on its own after a power failure (Energy Saver/Options), so you'll never know if it happened.


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## Cubelodyte (Oct 22, 2004)

My experience is that even though I put my Macs (G4 and Intel iMacs) to sleep all the time, I almost always end up rebooting them once a week for performance reasons. Despite the UNIX underpinnings, it seems that there is still some cruft that builds up in the memory (and no, I don't run any Classic applications). YMMV.


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## Nameisnobody (Oct 3, 2006)

Hmm...will shutting down my Mac every week, be harmful or beneficial to it? In the long run?


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## VegasACF (May 27, 2005)

In the long run you're probably better shutting them down every week. Yes, there is wear and tear on the moving parts when you do so. But there is wear and tear from the heat involved in keeping them running, even while sleeping. 

It's probably a matter of six of one, half dozen of the other.


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## Nameisnobody (Oct 3, 2006)

which one is more severe, wear and tear to the moving parts when shutting down your mac every week?
or
wear and tear from the heat involved in keeping them running?


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## Cubelodyte (Oct 22, 2004)

While I'm sure there is measurable physical stress involved in power-cycling any computer, I doubt it makes any kind of noticeable difference. For instance, I have my dual G4 at work power up automatically every morning, and I shut it down when I leave work. I've done this every business day for the last four years and haven't experienced a hardware failure of any sort.

Remember,too, that these components are also designed to be turned on and off. My wild guess is that, sure, you might be theoretically lengthening the lifespan of your machine by, say, a few hours at the most, but the chances are good that you'll have upgraded to a newer system long before the specter of physical failure rears its head (dropped laptop hard drives not included).

I think that all the hullaballoo over not power-cycling in order to exten hardware life is probably just an old bit of legacy cruft from when chip, PCB, and HD manufacturing was still in its infancy, producing less-reliable hardware.


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## Nameisnobody (Oct 3, 2006)

Ah I see, thanks Cubelodyte


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## VegasACF (May 27, 2005)

One argument for sleep as opposed to shut down is that the OS caches data to RAM for faster access, which is maintained when a computer is put to sleep, whereas such caches are cleared when rebooted.

Physics would dictate that the change between power off to power on creates hardships upon the parts involved, be they electromagnetic or physical. "Sleeping" the computer creates hardships on other concerns (does RAM wear out if it has a constant flow of electricity [one might easily point to the fact that it is not the nearly-continual current that taxes a circuit, but rather the abrupt change between full current and zero current {see lightbulbs, for example of how this might be the case}]? Does the fact that USB buses, even when computers sleep, routinely (and often) send out queries to see if the mouse or keyboard has been activated in some manner cause stress that being shut down does not cause?)

Will either one of the above be noticeable by the user? Maybe not. Will either one shorten the life of a computer (as compared to the other)? Maybe not. Each practice places different stresses on different factors.

Do whatever works best for you. Whichever you choose, you'll always be left to wonder if the other would have better served you (for example, whatever lane you get into on the freeway will automatically become the slowest--would you have been better off to stay in that other lane? There is no way of knowing).

For my laptop, I pretty much leave it on all the time unless I know I'm not going to be using it for a day or longer. For my desktop(s), I leave them on during the time that it is likely I will be using them, and if there will be a substantial amount of time (measured in days) between use I will shut them down. My rule of thumb is I shut down if I will be needlessly be paying electrical bills for their continued running.


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## Nameisnobody (Oct 3, 2006)

Ah thanks VegasACF. I think I'll prefer to keep my Mac asleep, since I use it everday, and shut i down on a weekly basis I guess. 
Which reminds me,



VegasACF said:


> And you can always set your Mac to restart on its own after a power failure (Energy Saver/Options), so you'll never know if it happened.


I can't find the Energy Saver option, is it in the Apple Logo?


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## VegasACF (May 27, 2005)

I don't know what OS you're running, but if it's some flavor of OS X you'll find it in the System Preferences item in the Apple Menu (or in the Dock, most likely). There is a pane therein labeled "Energy Saver". If, on the other hand, you're running some variety of pre-OS X OS you'll find it in the Apple Menu in the Control Panels submenu.

Look for whatever option you need from this point. Let me/us know if you need further assistance.


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## tedwinder (Sep 7, 2005)

VegasACF said:


> There is a pane therein labeled "Energy Saver".


With a little light-bulb icon!


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## baboon169 (Oct 13, 2006)

I usually shutdown because when I put it to sleep after restarting it again...my emac making this squeaking sound..and the bottom left hand corner of the monitor has a wrinkle picture...if anyone knows why can you please let me know..I had this emac for 3 years already....


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## Cubelodyte (Oct 22, 2004)

A "wrinkle picture"? Do you mean the display looks wrinkly in that corner, or is there some strange icon there? Post a screenshot.


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## Nameisnobody (Oct 3, 2006)

VegasACF said:


> I don't know what OS you're running, but if it's some flavor of OS X you'll find it in the System Preferences item in the Apple Menu (or in the Dock, most likely). There is a pane therein labeled "Energy Saver". If, on the other hand, you're running some variety of pre-OS X OS you'll find it in the Apple Menu in the Control Panels submenu.
> 
> Look for whatever option you need from this point. Let me/us know if you need further assistance.


Ah yes, I have found it in the System Preferences item in the Apple Menu.
And I checked "Restart your computer after a power failure".
Thanks guys.
By the way, my Mac is an OS X version 10.4.7, its those new iMacs that came out.
Hopefully it will treat me well over the years.


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## baboon169 (Oct 13, 2006)

just a wrinkle picture in the beginning .. then it just fades awat...

how about that squeaking noise by the way...os 10.3.9

anyone knows??


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## VegasACF (May 27, 2005)

baboon169 said:


> how about that squeaking noise by the way...


WD40 on your office chair? Graphite on the hinges of your office door? Mice? Noisy fan? Could be anything that involves moving parts.


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## drummerbull (Oct 24, 2006)

Hey Nameisnobody, i perfer not to tun on the "Restart your computer after a power failure" option because there is a greater chance of a power surge to occur when the power to your house is turned back on than at any other time. If you have your computer connected through a UPS or good surge protector, you may be ok. But either way, it is just safer for your computer if you maunally turn it back on after a power failure.


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## Nameisnobody (Oct 3, 2006)

drummerbull said:


> Hey Nameisnobody, i perfer not to tun on the "Restart your computer after a power failure" option because there is a greater chance of a power surge to occur when the power to your house is turned back on than at any other time. If you have your computer connected through a UPS or good surge protector, you may be ok. But either way, it is just safer for your computer if you maunally turn it back on after a power failure.


Ah really eh? Is there any appliance to buy for the Mac cable in case of electrical surges?
Hmm, this is an interesting find, any else have any comments related to this?
I will take your point to consideration, thanks drummerbull.


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## drummerbull (Oct 24, 2006)

The best appliance for this job is UPS (uninteruptable power source). It is pretty much a big battery that you connect your computer to. It will have surge protection and you can set it to shut down your computer when the power goes out. They also protect your machine from bown outs. You can check my post on my club forums for a thurough explination on UPS's and some links for where to get them.

http://acm.cse.buffalo.edu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=40


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## Nameisnobody (Oct 3, 2006)

Ah thanks Drummerbull


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## Nameisnobody (Oct 3, 2006)

drummerbull said:


> The best appliance for this job is UPS (uninteruptable power source). It is pretty much a big battery that you connect your computer to. It will have surge protection and you can set it to shut down your computer when the power goes out. They also protect your machine from bown outs. You can check my post on my club forums for a thurough explination on UPS's and some links for where to get them.
> 
> http://acm.cse.buffalo.edu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=40


In connection to that link, can I buy it from a retail store such as Bestbuy or something, or is it only available through a specific company?


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## drummerbull (Oct 24, 2006)

yeah, you can buy them from pretty much any computer store


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## Pinky von Pout (Apr 25, 2006)

This has been a very interesting thread to read. I'm a new mac user, so I have noted what I've read and I shall try to let my mac sleep more and power down less 

Thanks!


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## Nameisnobody (Oct 3, 2006)

Pinky von Pout said:


> This has been a very interesting thread to read. I'm a new mac user, so I have noted what I've read and I shall try to let my mac sleep more and power down less
> 
> Thanks!


No problem, Im a new Mac user to, I also want to know the ins and outs of this machine.


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## MSM Hobbes (Apr 23, 2004)

Regarding the UPS - I too highly recommend such. :up:
Recall that these not only keep some juice running to your machine during a power outage, but also provides a better 'juice' to your electronics.
Various s/w allows w/ some of these UPS is available to provide various services too.
Have the APC brand, 500 model, on the PC at the house.
Will be acquiring another model [not sure yet which] for the iMac.
http://www.apc.com/products/category.cfm?id=13&subid=5


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## Nameisnobody (Oct 3, 2006)

I'm planning to get this UPS (uninteruptable power source, I'll remember that) in due time.
Is there different versions of it for the Windows and for the Mac, or does it go both ways? (no pun intended)
Also is there any other site that details the UPS?


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