How many people here leave their iMac's on for days or weeks at a time? I did it with my PC all the time and never had any issues, and was wondering if I could get away with that on an iMac as well.
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Leaving iMac on for extended time
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If sleeping qualifies as on, I do all the time. Rarely shut it off, but it sleeps a lot.
Well I leave mine on as well, but it is not a hard fact that powering up and down is worse than leaving your computer on
I've had mine on since I got it on Christmas.
I don't even put it to sleep because it disconnects from the Internet and I hate that.
It's just so much easier to leave it on all the time.
I don't even put it to sleep because it disconnects from the Internet and I hate that.
It's just so much easier to leave it on all the time.
T
Tonerl
Guest
I left my iMac on for a couple of nights but have switched it off at night since I found that it wasn't fully asleep one morning (I could hear the drive or fan).
I'd like to let it sleep except when I'm away but I don't want it consuming electricity for the fun of it and don't want to have to disconnect all my USB devices just to get it to sleep.
I'd like to let it sleep except when I'm away but I don't want it consuming electricity for the fun of it and don't want to have to disconnect all my USB devices just to get it to sleep.
In the lab where I work, one computer has been on for over 8 years in a row. One power outage and that's it. I expect that my iMac, when I get it will never be turned off.
Tom
Tom
True that it does not mean it will necessarily shorten the life of the computer, but the theory is there and makes sense. thermal stress and other issues, such as the stability of memory during startup are real factors. of course there is also monitor wear and power consumption on the other side. i am just talking from a purely technical standpoint
Mine only gets turned off when the electrics trip... so whenever I make toast.
ugh tell me about it. i have an older apartment on long island. it should really be a historical building as it was part of the original post office of the town. anyway, whenever we have our christmas tree or space heater plugged in we cant use our oven
I only turn mine off...
when neither my wife nor I will be home for more than a day. The only thing I might do in those instances is set it to turn itself on in the morning and off in the evening in case I need to access something on it. After all, I always have my laptop with me.
-M
when neither my wife nor I will be home for more than a day. The only thing I might do in those instances is set it to turn itself on in the morning and off in the evening in case I need to access something on it. After all, I always have my laptop with me.
-M
True that it does not mean it will necessarily shorten the life of the computer, but the theory is there and makes sense. thermal stress and other issues, such as the stability of memory during startup are real factors. of course there is also monitor wear and power consumption on the other side. i am just talking from a purely technical standpoint
You're probably right.
Some say it is better performance-wise as well.
Bad to power up and down?
Is it actually bad to turn it off and on when your not using it? You guys sound like you leave it on for ever and I was getting worried about leaving it on for 2 hours while I was having tea or doing something else. Wow so is it actually better to leave it on all the time?
Is it actually bad to turn it off and on when your not using it? You guys sound like you leave it on for ever and I was getting worried about leaving it on for 2 hours while I was having tea or doing something else. Wow so is it actually better to leave it on all the time?
I leave mine on all the time -- I use it as a music server for my house, so it has to be on. It goes to sleep at midnight every night, then wakes up for the day. If I'm not using it, the screen goes to sleep after 15 minutes -- that actually accounts for most of the power usage, if you're worried about that.
That was true back in the days of vacuum tubes. But today turning a computers on or off does not involve so much heat shock. Well at least not as much as back when some parts of the computers glowed literally red-hot, bright enough to make light in a dark room.
I set my iMac to sleep after so many minutes of non-use. Sleeping does not save all the power but cuts it down enough. I actually can't remember the last time I powered the iMac down completely.
No. It is not "better" to leave it on. It's just no bad to turn in off and on.
The reason to leave it on full time is because it may be doing something, like sharing a folder or checking emails or serving a web page or holding content for the ATV or downoading some movies. my computer does quite a bit when I'm not there.
It would actually be better to turn it off if I know it was going to be doing nothing for a along time
Awesome so it doesn't amtter too much then that I power it down when I'm not using it but it's also ok to leave it on for long amounts of time yay. BTW is putting it to sleep when you leave it for about 20 minutes and the screen just goes black? Is it asleep when it does that or do you have to click sleep?
yay. BTW is putting it to sleep when you leave it for about 20 minutes and the screen just goes black? Is it asleep when it does that or do you have to click sleep?