New to Mac - Ok to leave them on?

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Hey, I've recently been a convert to mac. I have the 27" iMac and the Mac Mini. I was wondering, should it be no problem in performance wise to leave the Mac Mini and iMac on? Of course in sleep mode. I mean, it's not like it takes forever to turn on or off, just the Mini is in our kitchen, and its nice to have it on, and just use space bar to wake it up when needed, as well the iMac is in the recording studio, which we're in and out alot.

I figure a weekly shutdown or restart is good right? Probably a n00b question I know, but figured I'd ask
 
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As i can end up with 10 or 12 Apps open from time to time, every 3 or 4 days i do a shutdown and restart to freshen things up and it sleeps while i do.
 
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20" Intel iMac 2.4 Ghz/3G Ram/320HD, Snow Leopard. PBook G4, 1.5Ghz/1.5 Ram/250 HD, Leopard 10.5.6.
My iMac is permanently on and running, and so was my previous iMac, which ran for 7 years without a hitch, and is still in use by the person who bought it from me.
I do a restart every few days, as Collin does, but other than that, no harm to leave them running, they are designed for it, and not in sleep mode either btw.
There is a school of thought (that I agree with) that says that the more you switch it on and off, the greater the wear on the HD and other components, as you are spinning them up from stone cold all of the time, which is harsh.
 
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OTOH, I shut mine down at night, almost every night. I've had one hard drive failure out of four I've owned. I've upgraded hardware because of obsolete software. I figure the odds are that will happen again. My hardware tends to last longer.
 

Raz0rEdge

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I leave my Mini running all the time with all of it's apps..the Mini only gets restarted for software updates..otherwise, it just keeps running, never a slow down ..I usually go about 2-3 months between reboots..

Regards
 
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Thanks y'all I figured that'd be the case about leaving it on, lets me feel better about doing so. Appreciate it!
 
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I sleep my mac when I'm not using for hours eg going to bed or work. other than that its all the time. I restart it about once a week. I shutdown maybe once a month. done this for 3 years and had no problems!
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Macbook Pro 15" 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo and 4GB Ram Running Snow Leopard
I sleep my MBP almost always. I only restart if prompted by a software install or if things start acting "fishy" (rarely). I'm happy to say, no problems so far. Mac's are excellent at memory management so as long as you're closing your programs out completely when you're done with them (command+q) you shouldn't see a decrease in performance
 
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my iMac has been on for since Thanksgiving and before that it was Labor Day when it was last shut down. It sleeps when not in use. I freakin' love this thing, never had it hang upon wake up... can't say that about my XP box and work I don't let it dare sleep, it gets shut down.
 
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I never switch my MBP off, simply close and open the lid.
Only reboot the machine when Apple Software Update asks me to.

Cheers ... McBie
 

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