Turning off iMac at night vs. putting it to sleep...

...yes, I know there are a hundred threads about this. And I know the general consensus is to just put it to sleep at night.

However, I live in an area that is very prone to random power surges. Can't help it during the day, but if the iMac was off at night, I would have a 50% less chance of it being zapped.

That said, would you recommend turning it off, or in the long run, does that do more harm than good?

(Same thing kind of goes for my Macbook Pro, too....)

I turn off every thing at night...all my Macs and PC's...you might loses a day of its future life. At the rate things are going its old the day you buy it. Just back up your stuff..everyone should back up stuff you need to keep.

Living in a sub-tropical area prone to thunderstorms turn mine off and if thunder about unplug.

Two things:

1. Have any of you ever heard of a battery backup? (Uninterruptible Power Supply, aka UPS)

They're like $30-50 at Costco and they are a million times better than a "surge strip" because they protect against both too MUCH power as well as "brownouts" and momentary flutters in power that can actually be even more harmful than surges.

If you love getting down on your knees and unplugging/replugging things in every day, don't let me stop you, but ... I happen to think a UPS is a better idea (and saves your PRAM battery as well).

2. Brew: you will be surprised to learn that in fact, putting the computer to sleep DOES NOT use more power than turning it completely off (okay, there's an extremely tiny, microscopic amount of difference). Even when off, computers (HDTVs, anything that keeps the time really) continue to draw a trickle charge. Sleep is like the trickle charge plus 0.001 percent more. So from an environmental standpoint there's no basis for shutting down (unless you then unplug everything).

Yes, I've heard of the UPS and used to have one years ago. I'll look into it.

Thank you!

LadyJemima said:

However, I live in an area that is very prone to random power surges. Can't help it during the day, but if the iMac was off at night, I would have a 50% less chance of it being zapped.

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Wow! You get to sleep that much??

LOL, yes, I do! I sleep about 12 hours every night

harryb2448 said:

Living in a sub-tropical area prone to thunderstorms turn mine off and if thunder about unplug.

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Off topic I know, but I've never thought of Australia as sub-tropical. If you really want to feel real sub-tropical, come to Houston, Texas. We have winter for about...oh, two, maybe three weeks during Dec. Matter of fact, it's not unusual to be in shorts and tee shirts during our 'winter'.

Back on topic: I always turn off my Mac.

AliOop said:

Off topic I know, but I've never thought of Australia as sub-tropical. If you really want to feel real sub-tropical, come to Houston, Texas. We have winter for about...oh, two, maybe three weeks during Dec. Matter of fact, it's not unusual to be in shorts and tee shirts during our 'winter'.

Back on topic: I always turn off my Mac.

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Haha, Australia, depending where you are located, has summer and not quite summer.

We have winter for about...oh, two, maybe three weeks during Dec.

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In Pennsylvania, we have winter for about....oh, eight or nine months. Seriously. Summer is from mid-May to early August. I'm moving south someday.

You got it Stretch.

Late Autumn (Fall) here and still 30 degrees C.

harryb2448 said:

You got it Stretch.

Late Autumn (Fall) here and still 30 degrees C.

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I visited Oz in the "winter" and even in Sydney is was low 50°F. By the time we got to Cairns, it was balmy tropical weather.

I think we had 1 1/2 days of winter this year. Our seasons are shorts or jeans and maybe a sweater for extreme conditions.