Harmful to put your computer to sleep?

[umdjb]

Someone (the head of an IT department for a biotech company) said that putting your computer to sleep is not a good idea because of the resources or something that it takes the computer to wake the hard disks. He said you are better off just leaving the computer on and then just shutting down the monitor?

So when i am away from my MBP should I sleep the computer or just shut the monitor down. I am looking to see what most of you do. Is it bad for the computer to be asleep for long periods of time; basically, does it wear down the internal components quicker?

Thanks!

 

[PlaceofDis]

it doesn't save the 'state' on the Hard Drive, but rather dumps it into the RAM afaik so it shouldn't be bad at all for your computer.

 

[gauchogolfer]

I think that sleeping your machine is just fine. For your laptop especially I think that it's fine. For example, every time you close the lid the machine goes to sleep. It's certainly better than turning your laptop off/on every time you move it. If it tends to just stay in one place, I suppose having only the display turn off is OK.

 

[dadsp33k]

i don't know if my mb has ever been off since i purchased it in september 06.

 

[jsw]

Sorry, but this has been asked often enough that I'll ask you to search for other threads if you need more of an answer than provided above and here:

If your MBP is going to be used again within a day or two, let it sleep. If it'll be more than than, you probably should shut it down... sleeping slowly drains the battery.

However, it uses very little energy in a sleeping state, and the drives don't move, so there is really no reason whatsoever to shut it down unless, again, it'll be a long time before you use it again. And if it's plugged in? There's never any real reason to shut it down (as opposed to rebooting for updates, etc.) unless you simply prefer to do so.