constantly on? or shutdown & reboot ibook?

[adam taylor]

HI all, this probably seems a very daft question, but; am new to macs, with an ibook (yum) and ive read a lot about stability etc... so how do you fellow users leave your machine overnight - or in your bag etc? from what ive heard, restarting a mac can be a rare occurance compared to pcs. so is it a case of Asleep when not in use? or do you powerdown? if leaving a mac asleep is a normal and usual thing, then anybody know if an ibook can be left asleep tucked up in a carrycase? or would that cause overheating? thanks

 

[Paul Carlin]

I don't know about the iBook, necessarily, but I leave my iMac to sleep when I'm not using it and that works well for me.

It uses hardly any power, and means I can pick up immediately where I left off without delay when I return (sleep mode really works well on the Mac, unlike the PC)

Its generally considered to be easier on the hardware too, plus the "breathing" LED effect on the Mac is SO COOL too!

But, to get back to the point, I'd just go ahead and give it a try. I know someone who has a PB G4 that he leaves to sleep in its carrycase, so you should be just fine.

 

[adam taylor]

cheers Paul, im finding it hard to trust the sleep mode after PCing for so many years!

 

[SogniX]

I have a 12" PowerBook,
I don't turn it off - ever!
I've rarely have had to restart (besides software updates).

Even when I put it in a backpack overnight while on (asleep) it does not overheat, on the contrary - it'll be ice cold!

My guess is it pulls just enough current from the battery to keep items in RAM, but is not enough to create any heat.

 

[StarManta]

I keep mine either powered on, or sleeping 24/7. It's a good strategy with Macs.

 

[D3v1L80Y]

Mine are always on...just makes more sense. Just like Paul said, I can go right back to what I was doing
without waiting for a restart.

 

[adam taylor]

thanks guys its good to know, i feel like a fish out of water at the moment! there's quite a few things which are subtly different on a mac but im loving it and it makes the pc look and feel so naff

 

[StarManta]

"Naff"? I'm not down with the modern "lingo", lacking a certain familiarity with the "streets" as it were.

 

[adam taylor]

heh dont worry starmanta, i think its a u.k thang

 

[shadov]

Just a side note: It's (mostly) not the hardware, it's the software.

My OpenBSD firewall, running on old 75MHz Pentium, has never been rebooted due to software failure and it has been up and running 24/7 since december.

My desktop (Slackware Linux on Athlon XP) has crashed once in last 6 months. Though I've had to kill and restart the GUI couple of times.

My iBook has crashed twice during the three months I've had it.

It's not PC that crashes. It's Windows.

But macs still sleep better