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uv23 · 05:30 PM

My first poll on macnn!

When I bought my 12" PB last week, I was told that i could cart it around in my bag or whatnot in sleep mode without any concerns. Needless to say, I'm still concerned (paranoid) so I've been shutting it down whenever I carry it around in my booqbag or any time I'm transporting it. Is it in fact ok to just leave it in sleep mode? It would certainly be more convenient. Cheers.

P.S. My screen wrinkles/pools momentarily when the laptop gets moved. Is this normal? My LCD monitor at home never exhibits this behavior. Thanks.

anaphora68 · Dec 6, 2003, 05:27 PM

I carry it around asleep with no problem. My rule of thumb is if I'm moving short distances asleep is good, if it's going to be for a few days I shut it down.

In sleep mode nothing is running at all, so you're safe if you're worried about moving the laptop.

romeosc · Dec 6, 2003, 06:00 PM

Originally posted by anaphora68:
I carry it around asleep with no problem. My rule of thumb is if I'm moving short distances asleep is good, if it's going to be for a few days I shut it down.

In sleep mode nothing is running at all, so you're safe if you're worried about moving the laptop.

I don't turn mine off unless I have a major problem. Almost never!

Airportssecurity will make you turn it on and the startup is so long!

CrackedButter · Dec 6, 2003, 06:34 PM

All that is running during a sleep is the memory and thats pretty safe with no moving parts.

madmacgames · Dec 6, 2003, 07:00 PM

Originally posted by romeosc:
Airportssecurity will make you turn it on and the startup is so long!

Only a random sample... and these days with alot of people are going through airport security with laptops, there is a small chance you will be the one selected to "demonstrate" or test your laptop. I have yet to be the one selected.

neutrino23 · Dec 7, 2003, 04:12 AM

There are a couple of issues related to transporting a sleeping PB. I'm not sure how valid they are but here is what I have heard.

1. A PB may waken by itself in a bag and then overheat or run down the batteries.

2. The disk drive head is not parked in sleep mode and it is dangerous to transport the drive in this condition.

Let me hasten to add that I don't know the truth about HD issue. I have no idea whether sleep mode parks the heads or not.

Previously, I heard that moving the hard drive while it was running would affect the bearings which caused the high pitched whine heard on older laptops. Newer HDs use liquid bearings which don't seem to suffer this problem.

AlbertWu · Dec 7, 2003, 06:31 AM

hard drive is parked whenever its not in use, so i wouldn't worry about that.

and yeah, there is a possiblity that it'll wake up while you're moving, but only with periphs attatched (keyboard is inaccessable when lid is closed) and nobody i know is stupid enough to move things around with stuff plugged into it.

jamester · Dec 7, 2003, 09:23 AM

i move mine to work and back daily. It's always in sleep when I'm not using it. Last time I used "shut down" was to install RAM, nearly 5 days ago. =)

uv23 · Dec 7, 2003, 10:21 AM

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I'll just tuck it in beofre I move it insteaad of turning it off.

Cheers.

WOPR · Dec 7, 2003, 12:47 PM

Originally posted by uv23:
P.S. My screen wrinkles/pools momentarily when the laptop gets moved. Is this normal? My LCD monitor at home never exhibits this behavior. Thanks.

Mine rippled like this and Apple fixed it. Even better, I had 2 stuck pixels before repair, yet the new screen is perfect. I'd get onto Apple about it...

KP* · Dec 7, 2003, 12:50 PM

I never shut my Al15" down intentionally (i.e. only when it's crashed or I need to restart to install some software). But I do have a friend with an Al17" who is paranoid and always shuts his down, so I understand. I don't see any harmful effects from it. I'm always careful to wait for the pulsating light to come on so I'm sure it's fully asleep before moving it. When my latch was acting up, it would sometimes pop open, but usually while I was picking it up, not after it was in the bag.

I've been traveling a lot lately, and of course have the 'book asleep at the airport, but so far I've just put it onto one of those conveyor-belt trays and nobody has asked me to turn it on. One time I came out the other end and the lid had popped open, so maybe the screener opened it to check it before I got there. I'm flying again today, so we'll see.

uv23 · Dec 7, 2003, 01:54 PM

Originally posted by WOPR:
Mine rippled like this and Apple fixed it. Even better, I had 2 stuck pixels before repair, yet the new screen is perfect. I'd get onto Apple about it...

Crappers. I think I'll visit the local retailer where I bought it and give the notebooks there a tap to see what happens. It's not a good time for me to be without my main PC, so maybe I'll leave it until the new year.

Zaffir · Dec 13, 2003, 01:50 PM

Originally posted by anaphora68:
I carry it around asleep with no problem. My rule of thumb is if I'm moving short distances asleep is good, if it's going to be for a few days I shut it down.

In sleep mode nothing is running at all, so you're safe if you're worried about moving the laptop.

That's exactly what i do. If i'm going to class, i put it to sleep. If i'm going downstate and i won't be using it in the car (haw, like that'll ever happen) i shut it down.

Fillman · Dec 14, 2003, 01:47 AM

I always put my PB12" in sleep mode. I've just done a trip across Australia in the last week which involved 9 flight sectors. The PB was either in sleep mode or in use throughout. I tuck the PB into the seat pocket in front of me during the flight and pull it out to use and or to play iTunes if I need a bit of entertainment.

I always carry the PB into meetings in sleep mode and often flip the lid and fire up a picture or a PowerPoint presentation to illustrate a comment. I like to see the Windoze users eyebrows flicker at the instant-on capability.

chabig · Dec 14, 2003, 02:06 AM

I haven't shut down any of my Mac laptops for the past two years. Not a single problem.

Chris

carney · Dec 15, 2003, 12:38 AM

I just upgraded by TiPB ot a ALPB. The TI survived nearly three years of daily bicycle commutes (three miles each way, potholes, brick road, etc.). I never bought a sleeve or some cushy padded thing, just dumped it in my watertight pannier where it had about an inch on each side to bounce around with books, papers, a flat kit, etc. I went weeks without shutting it down. Of course, I also did daily back-ups. Um, I should also mention that the Ti was not purchased with my own dollars.

I used to have the G3 PB and got used to the idea that stuff from Apple should be indestrucible. The Ti still works mostly ok, I seem to have a short near the latch on the screen that gives me an inch wide band of faint lines down the screen nothing that an aligator clip at the top of the screen doesn't fix.

That of course has nothing to do with sleep mode. I also got tired of all the scratched paint work, so a removed it. It's a much cooler looking machine naked.

s4iscool · Dec 15, 2003, 01:11 AM

I guess im the odd man out. I have always shut down, maybe a pc habit. btw how much power does that sleeping white light use? My guess is that it takes less than a full system boot up would