[GuillaumeB]

Just out of curiosity, I'm wondering if you guys turn off your machine.

I turn off my MacBook Pro before going to bed and put it in stand by mode during the day when I am not using it.

i've read many threads about people scheduling backup processes at night which implies that they never turn it off... Coming from Windows I find this a bit weird but hey.. the Win system certainly gets messed up when not rebooted for a long amount of time..

[rickey939]

Never.

[lkrupp]

Never.

[jtrwallace]

You should never turn your computer off, in my opinion. Leaving a Windows computer on allows the already infected system to become more infected but a Mac is never infected. System parts like to remain the same temperature. Or at least hover in the same area of temperature. The longevity of computer hardware is directly affected by how often you turn it off and let it completely cool down. For this reason, I never turn mine off and the only time I let my MBP sleep is if I am transporting it. At home, it is always open, always awake, and always plugged in.

[Tomchu]

If you put a Mac to sleep everything but the RAM is turned off anyway -- so the point about system components remaining more or less the same temperature is moot.

Also, what do infections have to do with anything?

[seanc]

Originally Posted by jtrwallace 

You should never turn your computer off, in my opinion. Leaving a Windows computer on allows the already infected system to become more infected but a Mac is never infected. System parts like to remain the same temperature. Or at least hover in the same area of temperature. The longevity of computer hardware is directly affected by how often you turn it off and let it completely cool down. For this reason, I never turn mine off and the only time I let my MBP sleep is if I am transporting it. At home, it is always open, always awake, and always plugged in.

Ah so the old, 'turning off and on is bad' debate eh?
Don't make me get the science guys in here!

[ghporter]

I turn my computer off all the time. Not only do I feel that it's not necessary to have "instant" access to my programs (I tend to not keep running applications I'm not using too), but I KNOW that there's no reason to use the energy needed (even the tiny amount used in Sleep) for the machine to just be sitting there. This goes beyond the science seanc has threatened to whip out on all of us-philosophically, there is something generating the electricity that my computer uses, whether it's plugged in or using a charged battery, and if I'm wasting that energy, then I'm contributing to the degradation of the planet's environment just for my convenience. That's BAD in my book.

Also, a reboot is a good way to keep any (even minimal) memory leaks in check. Yes, I just suggested that not all Mac software is perfect! Quite a bit of freeware is really good but lacking in the in-depth testing needed to catch that one, tiny leak that eventually sucks up all your RAM.

And unless you have really old hardware (like a Seagate MFM 5MB full height drive), it DOES NOT require more energy to start the drive from cold than to run it for more than a few minutes. Besides, hard drives are spun down and parked in Sleep, so where's the "energy savings"?

[Chuckit]

I restart when I have to, otherwise I generally don't. A lot of the time I'll leave the computer on while I'm asleep or at work to download something large, otherwise it autosleeps.

Originally Posted by ghporter 

I turn my computer off all the time. Not only do I feel that it's not necessary to have "instant" access to my programs (I tend to not keep running applications I'm not using too), but I KNOW that there's no reason to use the energy needed (even the tiny amount used in Sleep) for the machine to just be sitting there. This goes beyond the science seanc has threatened to whip out on all of us-philosophically, there is something generating the electricity that my computer uses, whether it's plugged in or using a charged battery, and if I'm wasting that energy, then I'm contributing to the degradation of the planet's environment just for my convenience. That's BAD in my book.

Have you measured the power consumption to confirm that the extra thrashing of the drive and heavy processing and rapid hitting of much of the hardware involved in starting up doesn't take more energy than leaving it asleep for a few hours?

[mduell]

I don't turn my laptop (Windows) off. I sleep it when I need to save power, but otherwise let it run all day/night (it's usually busy doing stuff, like encoding).

[Sherman Homan]

Have you measured the power consumption to confirm that the extra thrashing of the drive and heavy processing and rapid hitting of much of the hardware involved in starting up doesn't take more energy than leaving it asleep for a few hours?

Excellent point. Especially when the Hoover vacuum fans on a G5 kick in during startup ...

[ghporter]

I have not personally done such tests. However, take a look at your drive's startup current requirement-it's a blip compared to running the whole computer, and if balanced over more than a few hours of sleep, it's probably either comparable or even a bit less. I cannot find definitive numbers for power consumption in Sleep, so I can't do a full-on comparison to demonstrate this.

[slpdLoad]

I have a PowerBook, and I never shut it down unless I have to.

[Art Vandelay]

There was a technote from Apple a few years ago about this. They stated that a sleeping Mac only draws about 1-2 watts more power than when it's powered off but still plugged in. Yes, kiddies, a plugged in but powered off Mac still is using power.

So, if you want to make sure that you're not wasting energy, unplug too. That goes for all electrical devices. Chargers, TVs, computers, a/v equipment, kitchen appliances, etc, all draw power when plugged in. Combined, these devices waste a considerable amount of energy.

[slpdLoad]

^ Works great for laptops. Just put it to sleep and pull the plug (Better to even pull it from the wall, so no trickle of electricity is used, like you said). Best of both worlds, you're not plugged in to your AC, and you still get instant access when you wake it up.

[Art Vandelay]

But you are still draining the battery that will have to be recharged sooner than if you powered off.

[Curiosity]

Works great for laptops. Just put it to sleep and pull the plug (Better to even pull it from the wall, so no trickle of electricity is used, like you said).

Why pull the plug from the wall? It is easier to pull it from the laptop, with its MagSafe plug.

[Jumbonium2007]

My Mini Has been up 45 days without a reboot... still going strong.. my linux box has been up 177 days 3 hours 2 minutes without a restart. I have an old lime green G3 iMac that has been up for going on 240 days running OS X Server.. its connected to a UPS

[Art Vandelay]

Originally Posted by Curiosity 

Why pull the plug from the wall? It is easier to pull it from the laptop, with its MagSafe plug.

He's saying do both. Leaving chargers plugged into a wall still sucks power even when they aren't charging anything.

[Rêvons]

I only restart when I need to; like after installing new software or because its getting sluggish

[Brien]

Nope. I sleep it, but only reboot on KPs and updates.

[red rocket]

I turn both of them off, and the same goes for my peripherals. It doesn't make any sense to me to have my computers on when I know I won't be using them for hours on end.