[Homer S.]

Hi, why does putting your ibook to sleep is better than shutting it down? hehe (newbie)

[f1000]

Originally posted by Homer S.:
Hi, why does putting your ibook to sleep is better than shutting it down? hehe (newbie)

1. It's quicker to sleep your Mac than it is to shut it down. It's much quicker to wake your Mac than it is to boot it up.

2. Less wear and tear on your hard drive.

3. You can more easily pick up from where you left off after sleep than you can after shutdown.

4. Because sleep is so convenient, you're more likely to use it; hence, you save more energy.

[Homer S.]

hehe tnxS now on ill put it to sleep

[sine -''-..-]

Originally posted by f1000:
2. Less wear and tear on your hard drive.

I don't think so... it wouldnt make a difference to the harddrive. The hard drive shuts down during sleep just like shutting down.

The rest is true though.

[f1000]

Originally posted by sine -''-..-:
I don't think so... it wouldnt make a difference to the harddrive. The hard drive shuts down during sleep just like shutting down.

Yes, but the computer accesses the drive heavily when one boots back up and opens all the applications again.

[ink]

I've had my dual-usb for 3 and a half years. It's almost always asleep, instead of off. It's working great, in spite of being "on" for almost all of that time.

[edit: I can't spell, maybe I shouldn't post when *I'm* half asleep]

[ghporter]

The big difference between putting the computer to sleep and turning it off really comes down to two things: how soon you expect to use it again (as in minutes instead of hours), and how much electricity you are willing to bet on your above guess being right.

If a little bit of electricity is no big deal for you, there's no reason for you not to routinely put the computer to sleep. On the other hand, it is good discipline to turn any computer off if it is not going to be used in the near term. This relates to not only electricity usage and heat production, but also security-both internal and external.

Finally, with modern drives (you wouldn't want to suggest that Apple doesn't use the most modern drives, would you?), the stress of starting up is effectively negligible. Nor is there any other real electrical or physical stress exerted on the computer when it starts up. The only REAL reason I've ever seen for NOT turning off a Mac is that some people don't like the nice chord that the Mac plays when it boots.

I have probably started up a nice little flame storm, but that's my personal and professional opinion.

[macaddict0001]

convenient, convenient, convenient.
There are no other reasons to choose one over the other.

[tooki]

Originally posted by f1000:
Yes, but the computer accesses the drive heavily when one boots back up and opens all the applications again.

Two minutes of moderate use is not in the slightest damaging.

The only thing that makes any difference in hard drive life is the number of spinup/spindown cycles. But because of the normal usage patterns, notebook hard drives are designed to handle dozens of cycles per day, for years.

In other words, even heavy laptop use, sleeping and waking, or shutting off and on, is not going to bother the hard drive. It's designed to handle these things in stride.

tooki

[f1000]

Originally posted by GHPorter:
I have probably started up a nice little flame storm, but that's my personal and professional opinion.

Well then allow me to retort.

If you want to argue that the difference between sleep and shutdown is negligible in terms of stressing the hardware, then I don't disagree. I was simply pointing out that sleep might be slightly less stressful than shutdown.

For me, sleep is the de facto OFF. This is Apple's paradigm shift in how we use computers. I only use shutdown for special occasions:

1. Lightning Storms / Power Problems
2. Extended Non-Use (1 week or more)
3. Installation of New Software
4. Hardware Repair
5. Discipline (sometimes you have to show your computer who's boss!)

[f1000]

Originally posted by tooki:
Two minutes of moderate use is not in the slightest damaging.

The only thing that makes any difference in hard drive life is the number of spinup/spindown cycles. But because of the normal usage patterns, notebook hard drives are designed to handle dozens of cycles per day, for years.

Well, if I shutdown and restarted my computer as often as I put it to sleep and woke it back up, those two minutes of moderate servo activity (and opportunities for a head crash) would quickly add up.

I've had two hard drives die on me recently, so I've lost faith in reported MTBF. Hard drives, like floppies and CD's, have become such a low-margin commodity that quality control seems to be going down the toilet. Manufacturers seem to be pushing price and capacity over reliability and longevity.

[ghporter]

Originally posted by f1000:
For me, sleep is the de facto OFF. This is Apple's paradigm shift in how we use computers. I only use shutdown for special occasions:

1. Lightning Storms / Power Problems
2. Extended Non-Use (1 week or more)
3. Installation of New Software
4. Hardware Repair
5. Discipline (sometimes you have to show your computer who's boss!)

No argument at all. Just a different take on the same issue. And make sure that the computer doesn't give you any backtalk; don't get all wishy-washy with it!

I agree with all five of your reasons, but I also know that lightning and power problems can happen in the middle of the night, so all of my computers are on UPSs, AND we turn them off. (In defense of that policy, I must point out that we have two fairly good-sized Windows machines in the study, along with the Mac and some laptops, so it's a matter of temperature control too. On some cold mornings, we'll all pile into the study and "fire up" the computers, supposedly for surfing, but we're really just getting warm!)

[f1000]

Originally posted by GHPorter:
On some cold mornings, we'll all pile into the study and "fire up" the computers, supposedly for surfing, but we're really just getting warm!)

Chestnuts roasting by the... CPU's.