[tbd]

I tried looking for topics on this, but could not find any.

So...is it bad if you are constantly putting the powerbook to sleep and then waking it up? Say I leave the room for 20 minutes and sleep it during that time, and do this 5-10 times a day; is this hard on the computer? Can it wear out the powersupply, or is that only and issue with complete shutdown and bootup.

What about longer periods, like overnight (I dont care about running scripts I can change the cron file to fix that part); is it better on the system to be asleep during that time? I would think it probably is better to be asleep just because of heat (even if its "cool" the constant mild heat will probably lessen the life of the pb over time).

Basically is putting the powerbook to sleep constantly hard on it or is it not hard on it at all?

[ibook_steve]

I'm surprised you couldn't find any topics on this. If there were meant to be rules on sleeping, waking, rebooting, and shutting down, you'd be spending more time worrying about using your computer than actually using it. The Powerbook is designed so that Joe Average doesn't have to worry about these things. Just use it however you want. Sleep is much more convenient than shutdown, so use it. I never shut down my machine. Sometimes I leave it running overnight because I started a DVD burn before I went to sleep. I only restart when there are updates or when other software requires it. Just use your computer, don't worry about it.

Steve

[oexecbmug]

Completely agree with ibook_steve.

I leave mine on - it sleeps when it knows to,

"restart when there are updates or when other software requires it"

for the past two years.



Harry

[pcummins]

I've done this for about 3 years now on a Ti 800 and my new 15" 1.5 Al, no issues to report. In fact I probably wake/sleep my PB 20 times on a busy day, it has made a huge difference in how I use my PB knowing wake/sleep works rather than waiting for my PC to chug along and boot up (about 3+ mins).

Personally I slept the PB's as Apple's "Sleep the HD" option never seemed to kick in often enough for my liking (though, I can use pmset to crank it down to 1 min or so). Also keep in mind that the 2.5" HD's are not rated for 24/7 use, so leaving the HD to spin all the time probably isn't a good idea.

So, to answer the question I don't believe multiple sleep/wakes will affect the PB at all. You have to be more worried about the HD coping with them, but 2.5" drives are designed to handle many head park/unpark cycles, but not really 24/7 operation like a 3.5" (which they aren't really designed for either - you want SCSI or RAID Edition SATA/PATA instead).

[rasmusnet]

What about the screen? Won't the screens life be shortened when set to sleep/waking up all day long?

[Squelch11]

I have a 12" 1GHz, (is that Rev. B? I don't know all that stuff, I just use the thing...) that I have had for about a year, and I have left it on about 85% of that time. I leave it on and walk around with it, bring it to class, to work, wherever, and I haven't had any problems. Like pcummins, I have found that I use the PB much more often than my PC's, since it's always there. When I open the screen, it takes all of 3 seconds for it to be right there waiting for me to start work again. No more going to get coffee, calling a friend on the phone, and watching a TV program, all while waiting for the PC to boot up. My screen is fine, my PB is fine, everything's fine.

[Randman]

Originally Posted by rasmusnet

What about the screen? Won't the screens life be shortened when set to sleep/waking up all day long?

No, you can set the monitor to sleep while the computer is on. Or turn down the screen via the brightness settings.

[itguy05]

Originally Posted by pcummins

You have to be more worried about the HD coping with them, but 2.5" drives are designed to handle many head park/unpark cycles, but not really 24/7 operation like a 3.5" (which they aren't really designed for either - you want SCSI or RAID Edition SATA/PATA instead).

It really depends on the drive that's in your machine - many of the newer 2.5" drives are finding their way into blade servers and are indeed rated for 24/7 operation.

Constant operation is actually much better for the drives and motors as the heat is relatively constant as is the load on bearings, motors, etc.

[hickey]

What about letting it sleep at vs. actually turning it off at night. Has anyone had any problems with that?

[SEkker]

Originally Posted by itguy05

Constant operation is actually much better for the drives and motors as the heat is relatively constant as is the load on bearings, motors, etc.

Please don't take this seriously -- or you'll just be replacing your HD every couple years for sure. Some editions of Windows do not have their default setting to include shutting off the HD -- and not surprisingly, those machines exhibit quite reproducible and relatively early HD failures.

It is true that turning your HD on and off every couple minutes would be bad for it, but so is letting it needlessly run without use. That's why there is a nice setting in the energy saver to spin down the HD. It not only saves battery power, it saves the HD over the long haul.

As for the original posting, other than Apple's sleep bugs that appeared (at least for me with my revA PB17) in editions of Panther after 10.3.7, it's terrific.

[itguy05]

Originally Posted by SEkker

Please don't take this seriously -- or you'll just be replacing your HD every couple years for sure. Some editions of Windows do not have their default setting to include shutting off the HD -- and not surprisingly, those machines exhibit quite reproducible and relatively early HD failures.

It is true that turning your HD on and off every couple minutes would be bad for it, but so is letting it needlessly run without use. That's why there is a nice setting in the energy saver to spin down the HD. It not only saves battery power, it saves the HD over the long haul.

I've been around this business to know that that is just false. Hard drives are rated at around 100,000 hours of use as a MTBF. There are 8,760 hours in a year, so if you left your hard drive spinning for 5 years straight, you're at 43,800 hours, or approx. half it's life.

That being said, most of the wear on bearings and such comes from start/stop motions, not runnung the drive motors. So, you are indeed better off letting the drive spin all that time. Think of it in car terms - would you want a car that had 100,000 highway miles or 100,000 miles driven in stop and go traffic? That car with the highway miles is going to have much less wear than the city car.

I've never shut my computers off or put the hd's to sleep (nor have I set up friends/family/clients to do this. Yet my drives go average 3-5 years plus before I replace them do to outgrowing them. Heck, I'm still using some 20GB 7200 RPM IDE Maxtors from '99 that have not been shut off much. They are still running perfectly although they are a hair noisy (not that they have ever been quiet). Same with the friends/family - all their drives are old and have been on pretty much 24/7. None of the drives were meant for this - they are all standard desktop drives.

I'd also doubt power savings - today's hard drive may use at most 10 watts of power, most of which is used during start up to get the platters moving. In other words about the same as a night light. After a year, you have used at most 3.65KW of electricity, not much at all.

[oexecbmug]

Great reply.

This comment needs to be kept on file because this concern about wear and the need for shutting down at night must come up often.

[Abit667]

Another thing might be your hinger, I knew a kid who did this a lot and his hinge ended up not holding the screen up anymore as he closed it every time he got up. It might have been a problem with just his powerbook, or maybe it was related to opening and closing it a lot, but I always try to open and close my laptops as little as possible as my expierence with hinges in the past hasn't been great.
This of course only applies if you're putting it to sleep by closing the lid..

[tripletaker]

There are so many varying responses. I wish someone with great authority would write a definite answer.