Is this true?

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I was reading some of the old posts on this website, and someone once had said macs were made not to be shut off. Is that true? Also, when should I use the sleep mode on my machine, and is it ok if the machine gets a little warm?

-Dan.
 

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I was reading some of the old posts on this website, and someone once had said macs were made not to be shut off. Is that true? Also, when should I use the sleep mode on my machine, and is it ok if the machine gets a little warm?

-Dan.
I don't know that they are made specifically to not be shut down, but a lot of us (myself included) rarely shut totally down.
 
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I only shutdown during a reboot for software updates.


$ uptime
19:19 up 14 days, 8:51, 3 users, load averages: 0.54 0.26 0.14
 

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Wow..that's a fairly uninformed thought process right there. No such thing as an OS or a computer that is specifically DESIGNED not to be shut down or whatever.

The way OS X works it definitely lends itself to not needing to be shutdown each night if you don't wish to do so. The system doesn't necessarily start to build up crud that slows things down over time.

Windows, on the other hand, traditionally can be made to do something similarly if you limit the kinds of applications you run on there, but for most desktop use you'll find that frequent reboots will keep the OS/computer peppy..

Regards
 
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And for what it is worth shut mine down daily.

Then again use a little utility called MacJanitor which runs all those maintenance scripts automatically.
 
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Ok, well is it ok if the machine gets a little warm after about an hour of use? It's not burning hot, just a little warm.

-Dan.
 

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There are a lot of variables that affect how warm/hot your machine gets..things like ambient temperature, load on the system and so on..

Grab something like iStat nano, a Dashboard Widget by iSlayer for free and check on the temps and report back what you see and we can tell you if your definition of "warm" is OK or not..

Regards
 
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Ok, well is it ok if the machine gets a little warm after about an hour of use? It's not burning hot, just a little warm.

-Dan.

Have a read of "My MacBook/Air/Pro is overheating, what do I do?" Guide. thread. And as Razor has said there are a lot of variables.

And as having the monitors in your MenuBar you can dl iStat Menus .v 2. Dont update this one as it will then take you too the .v 3 which will be a paid App after the trial. This one is free . .

Cheers
 

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I only shutdown during a reboot for software updates.


$ uptime
19:19 up 14 days, 8:51, 3 users, load averages: 0.54 0.26 0.14

20:30 up 16 days, 2:10, 2 users, load averages: 0.57 0.56 0.45
 
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To quote Apple :-

"Shutting Down Your iMac
If you won’t be using your iMac for more than a few days, shut it down. Choose Apple () > Shut Down. To turn your iMac on again, press the power (®) button."

Therefore, for those who regularly use their iMac, leave it on all the time and put it to sleep overnight.

There is a practical reason for using the machine this way (or any item of electrical equipment). Continually turning it on and off can create undue strain on the components of the power supply caused by the initial power surge during switch-on.
 
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^^ Exactly, it avoids wear on components.
Never switch mine off, just restart it occasionally if it's running slow, but generally it's on for days on end.
I was advised not to switch it off when I bought my first iMac, because back then Jaguar ran overnight maintenance tasks (I assume that still applies actually) and I also used to use Macjanitor.
To date (famous last words) I have not had any component failures related to leaving it on, I've only had a superdrive die, which is unrelated and common anyway.
 
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And for what it is worth shut mine down daily.
So do I.

To date (famous last words) I have not had any component failures related to leaving it on, I've only had a superdrive die, which is unrelated and common anyway.
If you substitute "shutting it off" for "leaving it on" I say the same.
 
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I have always followed this basic principle--if it's newer than a tray-loader, always put it to sleep instead of shutting it down provided it will be used again within the next three days. Most Macs made in the past 11 1/2 years are designed for a silent sleep when not in use, allowing users to skip the slow startup process and resume productive work immediately while saving wear on components in the process.

Always turn your Mac off if there's a threat of the power being interrupted (and your Mac relies on wall power at all times, as is the case of desktops and laptops with dead batteries) or if you're going to be working on its internals.
 
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I was reading some of the old posts on this website, and someone once had said macs were made not to be shut off. Is that true?

There is no set rule for this. No right or wrong answer.

I believe that the reason that many folks have heard that computers should be left on all the time is because the first computers (the ones that took up entire rooms) were designed to never be shut down. Personal computers don’t have anywhere near the quality of components (that is, their robustness, not how advanced they are) that those computers had. Personal computers are built to a price point. Their hard drives have a limited lifespan (rated in Mean Time Before Failure -MTBF, you can find this rating on the drive manufacturer's Web site), their switches wear out eventually, solder joints crack from heat cycling, capacitors pop from withstanding too many surges, etc. (Which is not to say that if you leave your Macintosh on all the time that it will likely fail in a short period of time. It won't. Macs are revered for their long life-spans. But less wear tends to be better than more wear. Hard drives not un-commonly fail.)

With regard to desktop Macs, the choice of shutting your computer down or leaving it on is a wash. There is no right choice. If you leave it on, your hard drive is spinning continuously, and you therefore shorten the life of the hard drive. If you turn it off you put the computer through heat cycling (hot to cold, cold to hot) and increase the chances of a cracked (i.e. cold) solder joint. The decider for some may be that you save energy by shutting down at night and waste energy by leaving your computer on.

The biggest problem with a laptop is heat. Laptops get really hot and heat is one of the biggest enemies of electronics. So, with regard to a laptop, you probably want to shut it down at night so that the laptop isn't generating heat all night long needlessly. In addition, your LCD screen has a limited lifespan, just like your hard drive. So you may want to minimize it’s on-time.

The advantages of leaving your computer on all the time are....convenience, your Mac is always ready to go. Less wear and tear on switches and the like during startup (there is some electrical surge when starting up, and computers usually fail, when and if they fail, during startup). Less heat cycling (which tends to cause cold solder joints to form.)

I leave my computer on if I will be coming back to it within an hour or so. Otherwise I shut it down. But that’s not right or wrong, it’s just what I’ve chosen to do.

___________________________________________

Randy B. Singer
Co-author of The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th, and 6th editions)

Macintosh OS X Routine Maintenance
OS X Maintenance And Troubleshooting
___________________________________________
 
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Thanks for that Randy B. Singer, i also agree that there is no right or wrong answer to this, i am new to the mac scene but have had and worked on pc's for over 15 years, i have never left any of my computers on over night or when i am away for more than an hour and have never had a PSU fail on me but again this does not mean i am correct, its just my preference. The point you made about the cold to hot is very correct! i had an issue before when a friend of a friend of mine brought me his dead pc for the third time! then found out he used it in his garage!! extreme cold to extreme hot! and as you say over time this will cause problems, generally in your home the temperature should be stable and limit this, at the end of the day its your choice.

Thanks Randy B. Singer
 
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Personal computers don’t have anywhere near the quality of components (that is, their robustness, not how advanced they are) that those computers had. Personal computers are built to a price point. Their hard drives have a limited lifespan (rated in Mean Time Before Failure -MTBF, you can find this rating on the drive manufacturer's Web site), their switches wear out eventually, solder joints crack from heat cycling, capacitors pop from withstanding too many surges, etc.
All of which are good reasons for not shutting it down.

Starting a Mac up requires it to load everything from a cold state. Your hard disk has to spin up and spend a minute or so doing heavy read operations. Everything goes from dead cold to heavy activity in the blink of an eye.

Now, sixty seconds of extra strain a couple of times a day is not going to do much damage, but still, why bother? After all, less wear tends to be better than more wear.
If you leave it on, your hard drive is spinning continuously, and you therefore shorten the life of the hard drive.
Not correct. When your Mac is asleep, the HD stops. Even when it's awake and idle, your HD will stop if you have that option set in the Energy Saver pane (and you probably should.)
In addition, your LCD screen has a limited lifespan, just like your hard drive. So you may want to minimize it’s on-time.
This was true back when Apple used fluorescent backlights, but it's not true of current Macs with LED backlights. Besides, the backlight goes off when the system is asleep, anyway.

It's not so much that modern Macs are not designed to be switched off; instead, modern Macs are designed to be left on (or asleep) whenever they're not in use. You can shut them off if you like, but there is no reason to do so unless you're expecting a power failure, or storing it for extended periods.
 
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... extreme cold to extreme hot! and as you say over time this will cause problems, generally in your home the temperature should be stable and limit this...

Computers get quite hot inside. The little joints where discrete components are soldered to the motherboard are metal, soft metal (tin), and thus readily expand and contract with each temperature cycle. In time they can crack from this expansion and contraction and cause an electrical discontinuity.

I haven't been inside a Mac to fix it for years, but when I was younger folks would give me their dead Macs that they had given up on and I would open them up, touch a soldering pen to each of the solder joints to reflow the solder (especially around the power supply, which gets really hot) and ta-da!, the Mac would be as good as new.

Often I found that Macs that were dead only needed a 17-cent capacitor replaced. You can spot a popped capacitor on a motherboard in seconds. It only takes a few minutes to remove the old one and solder in a new one.

If you take a Mac with either of the two problems, above, to Apple, you will find that they simply don't do component-level repair. They will replace an entire motherboard to fix the problem. If your Mac is out of warranty, they will charge you for an entire motherboard. So, for want of a 17-cent capacitor or a reflowed solder joint, it might be uneconomical to have an older Mac repaired.

It used to be possible to find computer repair shops that would do component-level repairs, and who would charge accordingly. Sadly, those types of shops are becoming harder and harder to find.

___________________________________________

Randy B. Singer
Co-author of The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th, and 6th editions)

Macintosh OS X Routine Maintenance
OS X Maintenance And Troubleshooting
___________________________________________
 
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Along those same lines of thought, I know a lot of motherboard manufactuers are now using solid-state capacitors that last a lot longer. Does anyone know if Mac does the same now?
 
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Are we talking sleep here or complete shutdown?Does the hard drive spin in sleep mode?
 

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