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M4 Mac Mini Pro, best practice, shutdown everyday, or no?

buggz

buggz

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 13, 2024
49
21
Hello,

I shutdown my M4 Mac Mini Pro every night.
I was wondering if this is the best practice use for this station?
It's picking either the RAM usage wear, or the number of startups for the RAM, etc, or something else I am not aware of?
Your thoughts?

Thanks.
 
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My M1 mini has been on basically since I bought it in early 2021. Wear on RAM isn't a thing, so that's not a concern.
 
you're not saving much, someone on reddit did the math, if you let it sleep for 16 months straight, it will use about $1 of electricity.

if you're somewhere where power drop outs are common, it's probably better for it to be off, than have it's power killed, but otherwise, just leave it on.

I almost never shutdown my Macs.
 
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waw74 said:
you're not saving much, someone on reddit did the math, if you let it sleep for 16 months straight, it will use about $1 of electricity.

if you're somewhere where power drop outs are common, it's probably better for it to be off, than have it's power killed, but otherwise, just leave it on.

I almost never shutdown my Macs.
Click to expand...

Good point - I should have mentioned I do have my Mini on a UPS and it's set to shutdown before that battery dies, if a power outage occurs. Usually something we get 2 times a year maybe?
 
Apart from a few random outages (and an extended vacation), I've had my Studio connected to mains, and let it sleep, since I got it home in '23

My MP 5,1 was treated the same, but there was a lot more going-on in there . . . if I was leaving home for a week, it was going to storm, or it was time for all my 400,000 neighbors to turn their Heat to Cool at the same time I'd try to remember to shut her down in preparation ;)
 
While things like power costs are irrelevant compared to leaving Intel Macs on, its not like it takes an age to start so I dont see the point of keeping stuff on in sleep mode when they arent needed.

As an added benefit you don't get drive eject warnings etc when thunderbolt doesn't quite work as intended during sleep.

EDIT: Oh and the maintenance thing? BS.
 
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No…

Shutting down a computer was something people did 20 years ago. It’s 2025 and computers to be left on without using much power.

Also, if you’re constantly shutting down your computer, it will hurt the performance since it has to do all these maintenance tasks that it would normally do when it’s not being used. It can’t do those if it’s shut off. Some might argue on a modern processor the performance hit is minimal but it’s still there.
 
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buggz said:
I shutdown my M4 Mac Mini Pro every night.
I was wondering if this is the best practice use for this station?
Click to expand...
Honestly - it’s up to you. The claimed “advantages” either way are all dubious. If it’s typically running 8-10 hours a day it will get plenty of idle time for housekeeping. OTOH, the Mac uses very little power and runs cool, so you’re not gonna s@ve the planet by turning it off.

My Mac is connected to a large power strip with umpteen power bricks for displays, hubs and other peripherals & I prefer to have the whole lot turned off at the wall overnight.
 
I leave min Mac mini Pro 4 on all the time. I have it on my calendar to restart it once a week; because we used to have terrible Internet access; which used to disconnect all the time. We now have Gfiber and have never had a problem. It works like a champ. Never had a network issue since switching to Fiber. Just what works for me.
 
This is a matter of personal preference.

Like the OP, I shut down my Macs when done at night, and reboot in the morning.
I have the Mini and peripherals plugged into a surge suppressor, and after powering down, I reach down and flip off the power to the suppressor, as well.

It's an old house with OLD wiring and the less that has to be connected at night, the better.

My fiber ONT and router stay on, however (phone is connected to them using VOIP).

I'm thinking that, like me, the Mini can benefit from "a fresh start" each morning...
 
waw74 said:
if you're somewhere where power drop outs are common, it's probably better for it to be off, than have it's power killed, but otherwise, just leave it on.
Click to expand...
It's also advisable to have an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) battery backup for desktop computers, generally speaking. This gives you a chance to save your work and shut down properly if actively using the device. Some units can interface with your network or computer directly and shut it down while you're away too.
 
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I have my NID, router, PoE, and assorted 'essential infrastructure' powered from a UPS, but the rest is up to me . . . I tend to micro-manage the other specifics.

Brown-outs are very, very uncommon (*taps-wood*) where I am, and--those that happen--do not really impact my compute experience any longer....
 
I can't get my Mac to sleep properly. It might be due to my dock or other accessories, but, regardless, it runs more often through the night than I would like. I wouldn't mind if the fans weren't ALWAYS running at 1,000 RPM minimum whenever it is on. I leave my MacBook on all the time, but the fans only come on under extreme conditions.

I'm less concerned about the power itself, but having it suck dust into a box that is difficult to clean is a concern for me. It takes only a maximum of 15 seconds to start it back up and by shutting it down each night, I'm not sucking dust into my machine for no real good reason.

If your mac actually sleeps through the night (sounds like a child), then leave it on. If it doesn't, you have to decide if the dust is an issue or not. If not, leave it on.

To each his own though.
 
I have had sleep issues in the past, but I leave all my Macs except a semi-retired CMPro running.
They do backup and the macOS maintenance scripts during their always-on phases. Intel use powernap.
 
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