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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac Notebooks > Does anyone else leave their PB on all day?

Does anyone else leave their PB on all day?
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schwaz80
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Aug 24, 2004, 06:39 PM
 
I have a 12" Rev. B PowerBook and I leave it on all day while I am at work. Sometimes I will also leave it on during the night if I am downloading or running large queries. Just wondering if I can expect any significant problems from leaving it on all the time. Aside from the HD life decreasing, anything else I have to worry about? The fan usually runs all the time and the palmrest is always hot. I do use a bluetooth keyboard so I am really not concerned with the palmrest.
     
mediacoop
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Aug 24, 2004, 06:53 PM
 
i never turn my off. ever. i've had this rev. b for nearly a year and it has been powered off less than 24 hours in that time. i've done the same with my previous powerbooks and ibooks.
     
Roy Boy
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Aug 24, 2004, 07:22 PM
 
got mine in feb this year and was leaving it on all the time, Day and night up untill I heard about the battery recall. now i turn it off untill i get my new battery.
     
cenutrio
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Aug 24, 2004, 07:26 PM
 
-original iMac, TiPB 400, Cube, Macbook (black), iMac 24¨, plus the original iPod and a black nano 4GB-
     
cenutrio
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Aug 24, 2004, 07:29 PM
 
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iREZ
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Aug 24, 2004, 07:31 PM
 
Make sure you lower your brightness to zilch when your not around the computer, your LCD life deteriorates as well as your HD. Also try to keep the Powerbook in cool area with good ventilation to maintain your temperature at atleast 10�F cooler then on a flat desk.
NOW YOU SEE ME! 2.4 MBP and 2.0 MBP (running ubuntu)
     
PeterKG
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Aug 24, 2004, 07:34 PM
 
Originally posted by schwaz80:
I have a 12" Rev. B PowerBook and I leave it on all day while I am at work. Sometimes I will also leave it on during the night if I am downloading or running large queries. Just wondering if I can expect any significant problems from leaving it on all the time. Aside from the HD life decreasing, anything else I have to worry about? The fan usually runs all the time and the palmrest is always hot. I do use a bluetooth keyboard so I am really not concerned with the palmrest.
You can leave it on 24/7, but close the lid when not in use, so it goes to sleep. The fan will not run and it won't heat up while sleeping.
MacBook Air, Mac OS X (10.7), 1.6 GHz, Core i5, 4GB 1333 MHz DDR3, 128 GB SSD, 24" LED ACD, 1TB Time Capsule (late 2009), IOS4 ATV, 16GB iPhone 4
     
cszar2001
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Aug 25, 2004, 01:03 AM
 
I put mine to sleep when I�m not home and during the night.
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iDaver
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Aug 25, 2004, 01:45 AM
 
Originally posted by iREZ:
...try to keep the Powerbook in cool area with good ventilation to maintain your temperature at atleast 10�F cooler then on a flat desk.
I was going to suggest a laptop stand to keep it cool if it's running all the time. As with most electronics, the cooler the better.
     
d.fine
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Aug 25, 2004, 04:03 AM
 

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StevenWRX
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Aug 25, 2004, 04:13 AM
 
Originally posted by cenutrio:

wow, thats a cool program.. what is it?
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Maayan
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Aug 25, 2004, 04:15 AM
 
Turn my PB off? What is this madness of which you speak? Nah, my 17-incher's a tough babe when it comes to withstanding the heat of long nights...

Oftentimes, I'll leave her wide open (I'm a BitTorrent addict, you see) and then drape a blanket over her so that she doesn't glow while I'm trying to fall asleep*. Though my laptop is rather hot in the morning (yipes!), she's never warped.

*(The power cord and the light on the clicker-thing that you press to lift the screen up.)
     
albook
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Aug 25, 2004, 05:06 AM
 
Originally posted by StevenWRX:
wow, thats a cool program.. what is it?
I think its MenuMeters!
     
arekkusu
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Aug 25, 2004, 08:27 AM
 
Yes, MenuMeters. Alex needs to merge my patches in-- that version is showing the wrong CPU ID-- 7450 should be 7457!
     
Beerman
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Aug 25, 2004, 08:33 AM
 
I leave mine on all day, except that I close the lid when I leave the office - very rarely ever shut it down completely. I just acquired a notebook stand (Targus CoodPad), and I am very impressed at how much cooler my 12" rev.C runs now.
     
Dr.Michael
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Aug 25, 2004, 08:37 AM
 
Originally posted by schwaz80:
... Aside from the HD life decreasing, anything else I have to worry about? The fan usually runs all the time and the palmrest is always hot...
You can put it to sleep. This will spin down the hd and the fan.

If you want to leave it running you can choose to spin down the hd in the energy saver panel. So the hd lifetime is not affected at all.

But the fan lifetime is. If it runs all the time it is favourable to let your pb sleep because fans have a limited lifetime due to wearout of the bearings.

On the other hand the regular cronjobs will run in the night if you don't switch your powerbook off.

So the best advice I know is:
spin down the hd
see that the fan does not run in the night (icurve or airconditioned office etc. helps)
let the the lcd sleep (of course)
don't switch off your powerbook unless you transport it
     
macintologist
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Aug 25, 2004, 09:32 AM
 
MenuMeters: #1 freeware for Macs and #2 for Powerbooks (after Sidetrack)
     
-Q-
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Aug 25, 2004, 10:15 AM
 
I leave mine on all the time at work. Oddly, even when I'm not using it the fan does run. And it's perched on an iCureve so I don't know why that happens.

But so far, no ill effects.
     
Jolt21
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Aug 25, 2004, 11:46 AM
 
i was just wondering, when your PB goes to sleep, do any applications quit or do downloads stop? or does everything keep running/downloading?
blah
     
schwaz80  (op)
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Aug 25, 2004, 01:02 PM
 
everything stops... which is why I don't put it to sleep
     
Jolt21
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Aug 25, 2004, 01:18 PM
 
Originally posted by schwaz80:
everything stops... which is why I don't put it to sleep
if everything stops, why not just shut it down then?
blah
     
schwaz80  (op)
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Aug 25, 2004, 01:23 PM
 
because the PB wakes from sleep in a second or two...
     
-Q-
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Aug 25, 2004, 01:45 PM
 
I never let the PB sleep because I do run apps in the background, but I do have my monitor set to turn off after 7 minutes or so to save the backlight.
     
cenutrio
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Aug 25, 2004, 01:53 PM
 
Based on my experience the only application that can create some problems while my PB is sleeping is photoshop.
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Keiretsu
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Aug 25, 2004, 01:59 PM
 
You can actually turn these things off?
Amazingly useless feature
     
Jolt21
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Aug 25, 2004, 02:30 PM
 
Originally posted by -Q-:
I never let the PB sleep because I do run apps in the background, but I do have my monitor set to turn off after 7 minutes or so to save the backlight.
so you have 'put the display to sleep" checked...do you have "put HD to sleep whenever possible" checked as well?
blah
     
schwaz80  (op)
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Aug 25, 2004, 02:47 PM
 
I do both... you really don't need the HD if the program is resident in memory.
     
madmacgames
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Aug 25, 2004, 03:06 PM
 
I have a 12" revB and have noticed that whenever it is plugged in and I leave it on (set to put display to sleep after x amount and hard drives when possible), that when the display goes to sleep, the fans come on almost instantly at full blast and soon the left side of the powerbook (palm rest, keyboard to some degree, and area around the mic) gets hotter than hell. It does not do this when the display is on and I am using it, unless I run a game or something graphic intensive. Which is why I put it to sleep when I can. A couple times leaving it running, it got so hot I became worried, and put it to sleep to come back and find it had shut itself down (I'm thinking a fail-safe because of too much heat, but I dunno).
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Shaddim
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Aug 25, 2004, 03:33 PM
 
Hogwash! You can't really turn these off, can you? Hell, I've not actually turned my PB 12 "off" since I swapped batteries 5 months ago.
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Holigen
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Aug 25, 2004, 05:21 PM
 
Mine usually stays on most of the time. I turn it off when I go to the airport (thanks to a thread in this forum for that!) and not too much else. Its always got the lid closed and sleeping. I generallly like to keep my computers on just because it makes it easy to get back to work and stuff. I restart my computer whenever I install a system update or software that requires a restart.

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Yeah I'm Joey
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Aug 25, 2004, 05:35 PM
 
hmmmm. it seems pointless to leave your powerbook on for days at a time if you do not have apps running all night. seems some people here have had theirs on for upwards of 50 days straight. your powerbook must never leave its desk and in that case i'd ask why did you get a portable computer?
     
Tomster
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Aug 25, 2004, 06:23 PM
 
Originally posted by Yeah I'm Joey:
hmmmm. it seems pointless to leave your powerbook on for days at a time if you do not have apps running all night. seems some people here have had theirs on for upwards of 50 days straight. your powerbook must never leave its desk and in that case i'd ask why did you get a portable computer?
Uptime has nothing to do with moving a computer - it is just the time the system has been up. Logouts and sleep do not affect it. My record uptime was 143 days with an iBook and that thing was carried everywhere, closed of course. Only reason that computer needed to be restarted was by then it was two revisions behind current.
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madmacgames
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Aug 25, 2004, 06:25 PM
 
Originally posted by Yeah I'm Joey:
hmmmm. it seems pointless to leave your powerbook on for days at a time if you do not have apps running all night. seems some people here have had theirs on for upwards of 50 days straight. your powerbook must never leave its desk and in that case i'd ask why did you get a portable computer?
I think alot of people are becoming confused in this thread. Just because the "uptime" says 50 days does not mean the machine has been running at full capacity for 50 days straight. Most people likely put it to sleep when not in use and no apps that need to stay awake and run. And Mac notebooks are quite safe to travel with while sleeping (the hard drive parks, etc).

Also I think the original poster was asking keeping on (as in awake) vs. sleeping and not keeping on vs. shutting off. But that was my take on his question, and now this whole thread is just a mess of people taking about 50 different things.
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curmi
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Aug 25, 2004, 06:26 PM
 
I think there is some confusion here. "uptime" is how long the machine has been without a reboot, not how long the machine has been actually physically running with the screen on etc (ie not sleeping). So people can have an uptime of 50 days, but they possibly have their machine sleeping at night or when they travel in the car and so on.

The original person who started the thread was most likely talking about having the machine on all day long without sleeping. Ie, they go to lunch, but they leave the machine running while they are out. I do that all the time, and just sleep it when I take it home with me at night. My uptime is only 3 days though, since OS X crashed on me 3 days ago and I had to reboot.
     
iDaver
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Aug 25, 2004, 07:31 PM
 
This may have nothing to do with the original poster's question but I find that my Mac runs slower and does strange things if I don't reboot at least once a week. Sounds like some are proud of how long you've been running without a boot but I wonder if you'd be better off shutting down once in a while.
     
madmacgames
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Aug 25, 2004, 09:00 PM
 
mine gets slow about once a week as well. Used to always reboot but now I run Coctail once a week (actually it runs itself) and that helps alot. The day before I can always tell it is time to run it as well.. lol
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chris v
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Aug 25, 2004, 09:22 PM
 
I keep mine running most of the time. I sleep it to travel, and otherwise set the monitor to blank after 3 minutes, but it's either running SETI or RC 5 while it's sitting idle. Current uptime is 9 days, better than either my work tower or my new G5. Very stable machine.

There are those who say that costantly spinning a hard drive up and down creates more wear and tear than leaving them up all the time, but I spin mine down whenever possible while on battery power.

When a true genius appears in the world you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him. -- Jonathan Swift.
     
wtmcgee
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Aug 26, 2004, 09:03 AM
 
Originally posted by madmacgames:
I have a 12" revB and have noticed that whenever it is plugged in and I leave it on (set to put display to sleep after x amount and hard drives when possible), that when the display goes to sleep, the fans come on almost instantly at full blast and soon the left side of the powerbook (palm rest, keyboard to some degree, and area around the mic) gets hotter than hell. It does not do this when the display is on and I am using it, unless I run a game or something graphic intensive. Which is why I put it to sleep when I can. A couple times leaving it running, it got so hot I became worried, and put it to sleep to come back and find it had shut itself down (I'm thinking a fail-safe because of too much heat, but I dunno).
sounds like you may be running some 3d screensaver when the monitor goes to sleep ... this could cause the fan to spin up, if you have a processor intensive screen saver running.
     
madmacgames
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Aug 26, 2004, 10:44 AM
 
Originally posted by wtmcgee:
sounds like you may be running some 3d screensaver when the monitor goes to sleep ... this could cause the fan to spin up, if you have a processor intensive screen saver running.
I do have a the pretty intensive Matrix "Red Pill" screen saver set, but I have it set to never go on.
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teknopimp
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Aug 26, 2004, 11:23 PM
 
i would think that anything left on would wear or burn out prematurely, especially a portable computer with less durable parts than a desktop. i treat my 'books with extreme care and that includes keeping them asleep when not in use.

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Jolt21
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Aug 28, 2004, 09:26 AM
 
how long does the battery last while in sleep?
blah
     
chris v
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Aug 28, 2004, 10:44 AM
 
Originally posted by Jolt21:
how long does the battery last while in sleep?
You lose about 1% an hour, so quite a while.

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madmacgames
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Aug 28, 2004, 12:03 PM
 
Originally posted by Jolt21:
how long does the battery last while in sleep?
Apple states the powerbook can run in sleep mode about 1 week on battery power.
The only thing necessary for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing
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Chulo
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Aug 28, 2004, 06:27 PM
 
I usually let mine run about a week at a time (sometimes two) without shutting my 15" Alu Powerbook down but I always closed the lid to put it to sleep when not in use.
Once a week, or sometimes every other week, I shut it off and let it "rest." Once or twice a month I unplug the Pbook and run it until it completely runs out of juice and then replug it again.
I haven't seen any adverse effects yet.
     
mjlukich
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Aug 28, 2004, 07:54 PM
 
Got in late on this topic but yes, my 867 is on 24/7. It sits on a Targus Podium CoolPad.

As far as rebooting goes, I tend to do it once a week or so as well. Now my Dell desktop PC??? 2 to 3 times a day, depending on usage.
( Last edited by mjlukich; Aug 28, 2004 at 08:02 PM. )
     
typoon
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Aug 28, 2004, 09:16 PM
 
I usually keep mine asleep. I only restart or shut down when putting it in Target mode or when I need to reboot once a day when i get to work to get on the company network. Not sure why I need to do that but whatever. It lets is refresh. Sometimes after having it in Target mode I let it stay shut off til I use it again.

The only other time I reboot is when either softare requires it or doing SW updates
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Lancer409
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Sep 1, 2004, 05:52 AM
 
my powerbook is never far from an outlet so i dunno how long the battery life is with sleep mode. i sleep it everytime i bring it out or am done with it. i only turn it off on long bumpy trips or when a software update has me rebooting the guy

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