03-16-2008, 10:20 AM

What are the benefits of turning my iMac to Sleep instead of turning it off completely, which I believe many of you do the former. What I'm particularly concerned about is electricity, since utilities bills here doesn't come cheap and my parents are concerned about the bills. Will turning my iMac to Sleep still eats up a lot of energy?

03-16-2008, 11:36 AM

at sleep an imac will still consumer over 3 watts of power, compared to over 100 watts when it is doing something

so you will save a little power by shutting down

http://kom.com/reviews/apple_power_consumption/

http://www.apple.com/environment/resources/specs.html

03-16-2008, 11:36 AM

To give an example, I have this stupid UPS which shuts off automatically when it senses that there isn't any power being drawn. Now, when the electricity goes off, and the UPS comes to life, if my Mac is in sleep, it thinks there isn't any power being drawn and shuts off. Annoying, but also reassuring that the Mac isn't using much power.

As for you shutting it down or putting it to sleep, it's a personal choice. If you are constantly working with lots of applications and files, then the hassles of putting your machine off and then loading all those files in can get a little annoying. So I personally put mine to sleep.

However, if you have just Safari and mail open with a few apps now and then, you might find that shutting it down isn't so much a bother.

Another solution: Auto shutdown and startup. Just hit your energy saver tab in the System preferences and you can easily schedule a shutdown say at 11pm and a startup at 7am. This is all done totally automatically.

03-16-2008, 11:36 AM

Sleep mode uses very little electricity. Starting a computer from a cold shut down uses a lot of electricity. i am no scientist and I don't play one on TV, but I would guess that it takes more juice to boot a Mac in the morning than to just let it sleep over night.

03-16-2008, 11:42 AM

iMacs generally use about 3-4 watts in sleep mode. Even when shut down they draw a watt or so.
http://www.upenn.edu/computing/provi...owerusage.html

I don't know what electric bills are like in Singapore, but in the US, we're billed by the kilowatt-hour, and at those rates, it would take two weeks of sleeping before an iMac used one kilowatt-hour.

03-16-2008, 06:27 PM

i know from previous laptops (non apple). When ever i would put them to sleep they at times had trouble waking up. They would freeze and some times i would have to do a full reboot. For this reason, i am scared to do this with my mbp. Are their any known serious issues with the mac in this area?

03-16-2008, 06:49 PM

my MBP usually has no problems waking from sleep, but once in a while it takes a few minutes to wake up...

03-16-2008, 06:50 PM

Never had that problem. Needless to say, always save your work before you leave it.

03-17-2008, 07:06 AM

Thanks for all your answers

03-17-2008, 06:14 PM

There is, (every once in awhile), a small delay before wireless comes back up after waking from sleep mode, but nothing out of reasonable. Sleep mode is far too convenient, and the OS is made to operate for extended periods of time without the need to reset or shut down.

03-17-2008, 06:49 PM

Originally Posted by MDCjr

i know from previous laptops (non apple). When ever i would put them to sleep they at times had trouble waking up. They would freeze and some times i would have to do a full reboot. For this reason, i am scared to do this with my mbp. Are their any known serious issues with the mac in this area?

Discard what you know from previous laptops. Apple Mac notebooks are the best in the industry for waking properly (and sleeping immediately) of any notebook you might have used.

Our Macbooks are flawless when it comes to waking up from sleep even if they wake up someplace else and our usual network isn't available. They'll immediately find whatever wireless network is out there and use it.

01-13-2010, 03:12 PM

I always asked the same thing... It seems MACs can actually sleep and be more efficient than shut down.... No wonder I never knew! The dell I grew up with could never do that...

SHOULD I SLEEP OR SHUT DOWN MY MAC?:

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

Many computer users (myself included) almost NEVER shut down their computers. There are many positive benefits to this (especially if you're a Mac user). When a Mac goes to sleep, almost every component inside the computer is turned off; what is not turned off is set in a 'low-power mode'. The contents of the RAM and Video RAM are saved, the network ports might still get a little power, and a few other subsystems stay on, but pretty much everything else is off.

PC laptops are a little different - because MS can't get its act together, PCs 'hibernate' - like a really deep sleep. The hard drive is accessed a lot during the 'hibernate' and 'unhibernate' times, causing a lot of wear and tear and much energy usage. This also takes a lot longer than the Mac way. I don't like PCs much (can you tell?).

On a laptop, this mode uses VERY little battery power - if you're going to use your laptop again within a day or so without the power adaptor plugged in, this could actually save battery power, as shutting down/starting up uses a lot more energy (much more disk access, processor power, etc.). On a desktop, this could save a little energy (thus a few $$$), especially if you put it to sleep a few times a day when you know you won't be using it.

The best advantage to sleeping is that the computer (a) goes to sleep almost immediately, allowing quick transport of a laptop, and no vigilance after clicking 'Shut Down...' on a desktop, and (b) wakes up almost immediately, allowing you to get to work right away.

Shutting Down

Shutting down a computer has a few benefits as well. One is that NO power is being used at all - for laptops, it's best to shut it down if you're not going to use it for a day or two, as it will save a little bit of energy and heat from being wasted in your laptop. On a desktop, you might wish to shut down so that you can transport it, or if you won't use it for a long while.

Also, shutting down completely wipes away the computer's RAM (random access memory), which might have some corrupt/junk data left in it from various things the computer does. It also lets the computer's components cool down. I definitely recommend shutting down at least once a month or so.

However, when you shut down and start up your computer, the hard drive and other components get more wear and tear, and use more energy.

The Verdict

I recommend all Mac users to sleep their computers unless they won't be used for more than a day or two, and all Mac users should shut down their computers at least once a month to clean out all the gibbledygook that collects inside the components.

<http://homepage.mac.com/geerlingguy/mac_support/mac_help/pages/0018-sleep_or_shutdown.html>

01-13-2010, 04:29 PM

If you're worried about energy costs, shut off your modem (and router if you have one) at night or when you're gone for the whole day to school or work or whatever. I have my router and modem (and printer) plugged into an energy strip that has an on/off switch. So I just turn that switch off each night or when I'm leaving the house for the day. I also do this most of the time with my TV and video game systems to save power.

As mentioned, the iMac won't consume much energy in sleep mode. Not to worry unless you'll be away for the weekend or longer.

Edit: Sorry, didn't notice this thread was resurrected from almost a year ago. Wouldn't have bothered touching it.

01-13-2010, 04:34 PM

Is the power a computer draws really a big factor in the bill? I am not arguing; I jsut honestly do not know the answer. Thanks!