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Is it ok to set an iMac to never sleep?

S

Soundhound

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 29, 2006
614
4
I have my iMac out back in a converted garage and it serves up the music and movies to the house. The modem, airport etc is in the main house, and the iMac falls off the network a lot. I want to run an ethernet cable to the back house, but until I can do that, I discovered that if I set it to never sleep (let the screen sleep, just set the cpu to never sleep), it doesn't fall off the network!

Problem solved, right? Unless I'm doing something that will eventually do damage to the cpu, or something else perhaps? And does it use a lot more energy this way, or is it minimal? Thanks!
 
It's perfectly fine to have it running all the time. Most computers where designed with that in mind. The iMac being one of them.
 
Wow, that's a subsantial difference between sleep and non sleep modes. How much power is 45w? Is that like running a 45w light bulb?

dissolve said:
As far as power usage is concerned, take a look at Apple's environmental reports:

http://images.apple.com/environment...Mac_Product_Environmental_Report_20100727.pdf

http://images.apple.com/environment...ac_Product_Environmental_Report__20100727.pdf

Those are for the current 21.5 and 27 iMacs so it'll vary if you have a different model, but not by much so long as it's a relatively recent generation.
Click to expand...
 
I know lots of people who keep their iMacs running 24/7 and I know even more people who have their tower PCs or servers running 24/7 and they use a lot more energy than any iMac does.

Leave it on for a month and then see how much it will cost you per month and then decide is it worth it or should you buy something like Mac Mini for that purpose
 
i leave mine running all day but put it to sleep when I go to bed. wake it up in the morning then I can remote into from work.

You can pickup the older AppleTV and use that for music and movies. I use two of them for that purpose :D
 
Yeah it's fine to leave it on all the time, mine stays on 24/7 and never have any issues with it. Only ever gets a reboot after software updates or if it starts running sluggish (usually after about a month for some reason!)
If you change your power saving settings set the screen to switch off when not in use (for example, after 5 minutes idle) as it uses a lot more power than the rest of the system when its sitting not doing anything.
The new version of istat shows my 21.5 iMac running around 45watts when idle with screen at minimum brightness, but close to 100watt with screen brightness at full. In theory it should run a little less than 45 with the screen off, which isn't much at all. Hope that helps! :)
 
Mine also stays on 24/7. The screen is set to turn off and the HD is set to sleep, but the computer itself is always on. It's the home media server (three Apple TVs and two Airport Express+speakers), so it basically needs to be on at all times.

(27" 2.93GHz Core i7, 256GB SSD, 2TB HDD, 2TB DroboFS)
 
Sure.

Just make sure you put the HD to sleep so that doesn't die quickly. I can only imagine how hard that is to replace if you don't have warranty (one of my main concerns with the iMac)
 
wordoflife said:
Sure.

Just make sure you put the HD to sleep so that doesn't die quickly. I can only imagine how hard that is to replace if you don't have warranty (one of my main concerns with the iMac)
Click to expand...

1. read iFixit.com instructions
2. buy replacement HDD
3. Follow instructions
4. HDD = Replaced :D
 
Lostanddamned said:
1. read iFixit.com instructions
2. buy replacement HDD
3. Follow instructions
4. HDD = Replaced :D
Click to expand...

It looks way too hard haha.
I decided that if I'm going to buy an iMac, I'm going to buy AppleCare anyways, so I shouldn't worry. Now I just need a thousand more bucks :eek:
 
wordoflife said:
It looks way too hard haha.
I decided that if I'm going to buy an iMac, I'm going to buy AppleCare anyways, so I shouldn't worry. Now I just need a thousand more bucks :eek:
Click to expand...

Defo put your HD to sleep when possible, but in regards to replacing your HD Its not as hard as it looks, especially with the latest generation ones its basically just a case of removing the screen to get to the innards.
 
Actually I believe most hard disk mfgs recommend the hard drive always be on and spinning at the same rate. My core duo iMac has been on pretty much the whole time in almost 5 years and has had zero issues. I don't let it go to sleep or the hard disk go to sleep and just have the display turn off after 15 min.
 
Yeah I always uncheck that box. Leave the system hard drive on for any desktop. That was the result of the google hard drive study as well.

A drive spinning up, down, up, down, etc will do nothing but help shorten the mechanical life of the drive.


Laptops and laptop drives - different story.
 
I have 2 - one at the office, one at work - both identical (2.8Ghz Aluminium). The one at the office stays on all the time, even at weekends. That way I can access it remotely at any time. The home one goes to sleep whenever it's not in use. All is fine - the only thing I absolutely make sure of is that the screen goes to sleep after 5 mins. I've had issues on the work machine of the image 'burning' onto the screen which disappears after about half an hour of proper use.
 
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