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Safe to transport MBP while asleep???

dmaxdmax

dmaxdmax

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 26, 2006
773
175
I just opened the lid and discovered my MBP took a ride in its sleeve and bag while asleep. Obviously it's working fine but how close was I to the edge?

Thanks in advance
 
You were right on the edge...

Of what most people who take the laptops around with them do.
 
Nah, I do it all the time (driving somewhere and/or flying on a plane... of course... I ALWAYS carry my MBP!). It parks the HD so no damage can be done. It just doesnt fully power down the whole system, so you can wake it quickly and be up in running in no time.
 
As others have said, when you sleep your laptop it turns off the HD and only leaves power on to the RAM...so there's no way to damage anything.
 
I can't remember the last time I ever shut my machine down completely.
 
davidwarren said:
do you turn it off normally when you pack it up?
Click to expand...

Yup. I haven't had a laptop in a dozen years and back then I remember being told I shouldn't move it any more than necessary. (I think it was a Toshiba but I'm not certain. I can't even remember what vacuum tubes it took.)
 
I usually transport mine in sleep mode in a carry bag. But once i took it out to find it very hot and the fans running full speed. So If I know it's going to stay in the bag for a while I shut it down.
 
I travel a total for about 3 hours every day and the MPB stays asleep during the whole time with no problems.
 
The not moving it around part was for the hard drive. But if the hard drive is off you're fine. The hard drive is off during sleep. You did what a LOT of people do every day.

However, I have taken my MBP out of my bag to find it was awake again after having been put to sleep. This has happened a couple times. While it's fine to be carrying it around while asleep, I worry that it'll wake up which is why I turn mine off.
 
polycat33 said:
The not moving it around part was for the hard drive. But if the hard drive is off you're fine. The hard drive is off during sleep. You did what a LOT of people do every day.

However, I have taken my MBP out of my bag to find it was awake again after having been put to sleep. This has happened a couple times. While it's fine to be carrying it around while asleep, I worry that it'll wake up which is why I turn mine off.
Click to expand...
I don't know why the MBP would awaken when the lid is closed (I've heard others say the same). I've had my PB for 2 years and it's never awoken by it's self with the lid closed. Strange stuff.
 
If you have a Bluetooth mouse in the bag with it, make sure you have your System Preferences set to not wake up on Bluetooth devices or it will wake right back up when you move the mouse. Plus it leaves the BT radio on, which eats battery.
 
the only problem you could face if you do it constantly is a battery performance decrease.

this is what happened to me.
i was showing off to my pc friends that osx is so stable that i can keep it running months without restarting it.
but after 1 year my battery life was 10 minutes.
maybe sleep mode slowly consumes battery.

anyway it was on a 2001 white ibook...
 
I always shut my iBook G4 down when I move it anywhere. I just don't like the idea of the heat building up inside my Tom Bihn monolith that's inside my Maxpedition Condor. That's a lot of layers.

It'd probably be fine if I just let it sleep, but I'm pretty paranoid and baby the thing.
 
Ages ago when I was into stereo equipment that I couldn't afford I was led to believe that the 2 great enemies of electronics are heat and dust. I figure "off" has to be cooler than "asleep".
 
Dmadmax--

Let me guess--you had tube gear? ;)

The gear I had didn't like to be turned on and off--it sounded much better if left on permanently. (Linn and Naim.)

Bob
 
My MacBook is practically always on - so whenever I transport, it is in sleep mode. You just have to feel the notebook and make sure the fans have turned off before you pack it. I've had a few occasions when I open my backpack and the fans are whirring away on full blast because the laptop didn't have enough time to cool down.
 
The notebook isn't going to generate any heat while it's sleeping.. the only thing that is receiving power is the RAM which won't generate heat unless it's under load. The biggest generators of heat in the notebooks are the CPU, North and south bridges, HD, and graphics chip.
 
Thanks everyone - I have to get off the forum now and make sure my rebates get to the P.O. on time.

I wonder what % go unredeemed....
 
the only time mine has been shut down completly for more than a few second (rebooting) was when i left it overnight at my girlfriends house (i was going home and coming back in the morning and didnt want to bother bring it home with me and needed the battery to be full in the morning, and didnt want to take it outta its bad so the cat could sit on it)
 
It is safe...

I guess nothing should happen since:

1. Once MacBook in a sleep mode it parks all hard drives as it was mentioned earlier.

2. The upside of all recent MacBook's is that they have a motion sensors inside to safe computer (actually HDD) from accidental damaging while transferring it.

I have got my MBP couple days ago and most of the time was moving computer in asleep mode. That is the main feature which drove me crazy before, whenever I saw happy mac users opening the lid and having machine working right away in a second while I was waiting at the same time my Windows/Linux to start for about 10 seconds.
 
After one class ends and I have to go to another I just close the lid and leave...I don't turn it off because it would take too long.
 
if u transport you're macbook pro while asleep, i hope you are a light sleeper, because someone would likely feel inclined to take it off your hands! (who would not be tempted?)
 
:rolleyes:

i never shut mine down... though one time i guess it woke up on its own and SMCfancontrol kicked in at 6000rpm for over 15 minutes in my bag... it was sooooo hot when i took it out and it wouldnt power on... i was afraid i killed it, but turns out the battery was spent from all that spinning.
 
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