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Brian1230

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 7, 2021
74
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I just got another Mac laptop on Wednesday evening, after being forced to use windows for the past 10 months, such a relief, It is an early 2015 MacBook Air 11 inch, running macOS Big Sur, and I am wondering if it is safe to do what I always did with my 2008 MacBook and just close the lid when I am done, either for a few hours or overnight instead of completely shutting it down? I am wanting to keep this laptop in perfect shape like it is for as long as possible, unless we get lucky and get a decent stimulus payment finally, and buy either a new MacBook or MacBook Air because windows 10 and I do not get along, just like android and I do not get along at all.
 
Awesome to hear, just wanted to know that nothing has changed in that manner with it being 7 years newer than my old MacBook and has a ssd instead of a mechanical hard drive like my 2008 MacBook did. thanks!
 
There is no real need to shut the Mac down each day. I leave my running 24/7, unless there is very bad weather happening.

Only other exception being if you think you'll be leaving it unused for like months. Then I'd shut it down for the battery's sake. But if it's a day, two, three, a week or a few; Well; mine stays just with its lid shut too
 
Only other exception being if you think you'll be leaving it unused for like months. Then I'd shut it down for the battery's sake. But if it's a day, two, three, a week or a few; Well; mine stays just with its lid shut too
That is a very good point I did not consider. Although that is a rare usage example, it Is still important the OP, and those looking on know such.
 
That is a very good point I did not consider. Although that is a rare usage example, it Is still important the OP, and those looking on know such.
Yeah. It’s relevant to me over summer breaks though. When I’m not going to uní I basically only use my iMac so the laptop just sits there. So over summer breaks or long COVID lockdowns it’s had some relevance. :)
 
Yeah. It’s relevant to me over summer breaks though. When I’m not going to uní I basically only use my iMac so the laptop just sits there. So over summer breaks or long COVID lockdowns it’s had some relevance. :)
Now that you mention it, I imagine there are a lot of people who have other devices etc. and forget about the laptop and end up running the battery down or worse. Hopefully, your posts will help prevent some of that from occurring.
 
i always sleep my macs, but good to restart occasionally; flushes the ram, it's helpful with occasional glitches...you get a clean start. i only shutdown my imac if i'm travelling (& not much of that these days)...
 
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It's always ok to put a Mac to sleep. It's never necessary to shut it down, though many like to do so because of old habits.
I am one of those old users with "old habits" ;)

I shut my iMac down at least once a week. I am not a geek and have no idea about the inner workings of computers, but have been using Macs a long time. In the early days shutting down made it reorganise stuff and kept it efficient. So I was told.
That may not be so true today but I believe my iMac benefits from being switched off for a good rest now and again.... She's nearly 4 already and needs her rest 😀
There is a difference between shutting down and putting to sleep.... look at the difference in time between a shutdown and a restart. Shutting down usually takes longer (for me) so I assume there's more going on in the background?
Old habits die hard......
 
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I shut down my 2018 MBP every night before heading home, as in sleep it’ll use 5-10% of the battery overnight, IIRC, which bothers me. My old 2015 was far better in that way. I leave my 2018 Mini sleeping always, unless I’m off on holiday.
 
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I have left this air sleep when I am not using it, it shut itself off one night because it ran out of battery simply because the previous owner gave me the wrong adapter, he was keeping the one that used the magsafe1 adapter and accidentally gave me that adapter, which he corrected the next morning, the only issue is I had to reset the smc to make it respond to the power button properly after it ran out of power. other than that minor issue, it works awesome and so glad I got it.
 
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