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Ryan700 · Nov 25, 2009, 05:26 PM

I am using a piece of software for my MacBook that automatically follows people on Twitter. It is a program on my mac. When I close the lid on my MacBook what happens exactly? Do my programs continue running or is everything paused or in sleep mode until I open the lid?

Spheric Harlot · Nov 25, 2009, 05:27 PM

The machine is turned off. No applications can continue running.

Doc HM · Nov 25, 2009, 06:43 PM

Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot

The machine is turned off. No applications can continue running.

No, not really. The Mac goes to sleep. All your applications remain open but are suspended until the lid is reopened. That's why waking from sleep is so fast, nothing has to restart.

Spheric Harlot · Nov 25, 2009, 07:17 PM

No application continues its operation while the machine is sleeping.

The machine is turned off. Every component in the machine is powered down except the RAM, whose content is retained through minimal voltage. The machine is OFF.

It is not shut down in the sense that the operating system has been cleaned up and all open files put away and all processes properly terminated.

But all processes are halted. None are running. It is switched off.

ghporter · Nov 25, 2009, 10:00 PM

Doc HM and Spheric Harlot are saying the same things from different points of view (or more precisely from different levels of abstraction).

The difference between "off" and sleep is the RAM being maintained (and some small part of the CPU that manages this runs). That's it. With the lid closed, any Mac laptop does nothing except make the sleep light "snore."

So Ryan your app does nothing. Your Dashboard apps do nothing. Your browser, if it's open, does nothing. The whole machine does nothing, except maintain your RAM contents so the machine can "wake up" quickly.

Ryan700 · Nov 25, 2009, 10:06 PM

Thanks, everyone. So another question remains is when my screen goes dark then the same thing happens, right? No apps working?

mduell · Nov 25, 2009, 11:20 PM

You can disable the automatic sleep with apps like InsomniaX.

Spheric Harlot · Nov 26, 2009, 03:39 AM

Originally Posted by Ryan700

Thanks, everyone. So another question remains is when my screen goes dark then the same thing happens, right? No apps working?

No. In the Energy Saver settings, there is a separate setting for screen sleep.

The monitor turns off to conserve energy, but the machine keeps running. If the sleep light is *pulsing* (not just constantly on), THEN the machine is off (sleeping).

Simon · Nov 26, 2009, 05:13 AM

If the sleep light is pulsing the machine is sleeping. If the light is off (and the lid is closed) the machine is off.

If the lid is open and the machine is on, the light will be off too (Apple logic).

Spheric Harlot · Nov 26, 2009, 06:30 PM

If the machine is open and running, the monitor sleep causes the light to switch on.

At least on my 2006 MacBook C2D.

Simon · Nov 27, 2009, 04:41 AM

Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot

If the machine is open and running, the monitor sleep causes the light to switch on.

At least on my 2006 MacBook C2D.

AFAICT that's the case on the latest models too. If the machine's on and the lid is open, the light is off when the dislay's on and comes on when the display goes to sleep. Kind of makes sense because it means you can always tell if the machine's awake or not.

Also, in closed-lid mode the light is always on while the computer is on, and pulses while it sleeps.

Spheric Harlot · Nov 27, 2009, 05:21 AM

Yep.

Simon · Nov 27, 2009, 05:24 AM

Personally, I'd prefer the light to be always on when the computer's on. I don't think the 0.5 mW power saved by turning off the LED while the computer's running is worth it. In fact in my experience newcomers to the Mac are often confused by this behavior. They ask why the light turns off when you wake the computer. And then you get to explain Apple's convoluted logic, but even if they can follow, they never seem quite satisfied.

Spheric Harlot · Nov 27, 2009, 06:51 AM

I've never been asked that, and I get asked a *lot* of questions.

I'd rather the light just not exist when it isn't needed.

Simon · Nov 27, 2009, 08:32 AM

You and I are not the problem. We're very familiar with Macs. But it can be a problem for people who are new to the platform. What they are used to from PCs and pretty much every other electronic device is that its light is on to indicate it's on and the light goes off when the device turns off. Hence when a Mac's light suddenly goes off they expect this indicates that the computer has shut itself off. When actually it's the opposite. To these people that's quite unusual and hence confusing.

ibook_steve · Nov 27, 2009, 01:30 PM

Seriously? The sleep light behaves differently from lights on other electronics: it pulses. It's not constantly on so I'm not sure how anybody would construe a pulsing light to mean "on." If you call it a "sleep light" as opposed to a "power light" I would think that would explain everything.

Nintendo DS(i) has a flashing sleep light and Lenovo notebooks have a little lit "moon" icon in sleep. Both of these examples were basically taken from Apple's playbook when the flashing sleep light was introduced back in the G3 days. I don't understand the confusion here.

Steve

Simon · Nov 28, 2009, 03:00 AM

Steve, the pulsing isn't the problem. The problem is that people do not understand why a light goes off when the device comes on. That's not only the opposite of how it works on all PC notebooks, it's also quite the contrary of how most consumer electronics work. Note that many PC notebook have several status lights including sometimes special sleep status indicator, while the Mac only has a single status light. It's no surprise people expect that one light to be the status light.

Calling it a sleep light and explaining Apple's logic can help people understand. But IIRC it was Jonathan Ives himself who once explained that good design is design that doesn't need an explanation. I find that I've been explaining sleep light behavior quite often to newcomers to the Mac. Actually even on this board. I'm sure the topic pops up about twice year.

ghporter · Nov 28, 2009, 09:43 AM

Simon's point is valid-there are a lot of people who just aren't bright about computers in general. That the light is off when the computer is running and goes on and off while it's not running confuses some people, at least at first.

Of course if they would bother to RTFM, that wouldn't be any sort of problem, but who reads manuals nowadays?

Spheric Harlot · Nov 28, 2009, 12:20 PM

I deal with not-so-bright computer users every day.

The light has never been an issue.

Simon · 03:38 AM

As I already said, I've had to explain this to several people including some who asked here. Quite obviously it's not as self-explanatory as Apple folks like their design to be.

Spheric Harlot · Nov 28, 2009, 04:01 PM

I *have* had to explain sleep vs. shutdown vs. screen sleep fairly often, and in the course of that the sleep light status, but the sleep light itself was never the cause of confusion.

your experience may vary.

Simon · Nov 29, 2009, 03:38 AM

Indeed, it does.