Sleep Mode

[Matt]

I've recentlty have gotten broadband. I am thinking of leaving my Mac on 24/7, putting it in sleep mode, with boradband always on, so when I want to surf the net, it's easy as clicking the mouse, get on to safari, and off I go. Will this put much wear ansd tear on the computer? Will the OS stuff up after a while?

 

[schweb]

Macs are designed to sleep, it won't cause any negative problems. You shouldn't actually ever shut them off, sleep is more than enough.

 

[Matt]

What, you mean they were designed to be on sleep only unless absolutely nessary?

 

[m1k]

No, what he means is that OS X is UNIX-based, meaning it's designed never to be shut down. You can not shut it down for months and it won't lose speed or cause stress on the computer. I never shut down my computer, and I only restart after installing updates when it's absolutely necessary, and my PowerBook runs really smooth.

 

[muso]

Yes that's basically it. Most people only restart their macs after a system update.

 

[Matt]

Thanks!

But how bout Hardware wise. Mine is an iMac G3 600Mhz. Will it create wear and tear in that sector?

 

[Avalon]

Hey Matt! I finally got broadband too, and it's really great...

I agree with the others, putting your Mac to sleep and only restarting it when necessary is the way to go.

Now hardware wise, I don't know about the old iMacs like yours, but every modern computer uses a minimum of power, even if switched off. Actually, I did a current measurement with my PowerMac, to see how much current (and therefore power) it uses, while turned off and in sleep mode. Actually, the difference was about 1.5Watts, so very marginal...

 

[Matt]

So that would indicate some significant wear and tear?

 

[Avalon]

No, because the difference between computer off and in sleep is really very small, compared to what it uses when running it's even neglectable.

So if you really worry about ageing of your electronics of the Ppowersupply, you have to unplug it every time you don't use it. But that wouldn't make it last significantly longer anyway...

You can easily keep it in sleep mode, your iMac won't get any harm of it. ;-)

 

[Matt]

Thanks Avalon!!!!!

 

[Lasha]

Hey, I have a question...

Even though it's completely okay not to shut down your Mac every night when you go to sleep, is it bad if you shut it down every night anyway? I am currently on a PC running Windows XP Home and I shut it down every night I go to sleep. Would it be a problem if I did the same with my upcoming 20inch iMac???

 

[m1k]

Well, it would be fine, but why would you want to? It's just so much easier to put it into sleep mode.