Can Apple Give a Straight Answer?

I have a well-used iBook from 2001 that still works fine. It has been on for much of the last four years.

Previously, i had a cheap Compaq purchased in 98 or 99. I sold it to a friend in 2002. Works great, last time I checked. After I disinfected it. When I had it, I almost never turned it off.

I don't think sleep is going to reduce a computer's lifespan. YMMV.

Doug
 
While I wouldn't mind Apple adding a feature like hibernation, I guess I wouldn't use it. It's okay for desktops, but unnecessary for notebooks.
 
i am no hibernation-expert (all i know is from a longhorn-thread i recently visited on another forum), i doubt there would be any real benefit with hibernation. as i understood it (and as i said, i might be totally wrong) you unload the ram to the harddrive and shut down everything. next time it copies this information back into the ram... well, that is the weird part. wouldnt it take a lot more time copying 2 gigabyte (which isnt _that_ unusual nowdays) than simply start the computer the old fashioned way (rumors said it took 10 seconds on the Macosx intel developer machines)? so it is no time saver. i can only see one use for it and that is portabel recording studios that have a lot of complicated stuff attached and special applications that need to be started in a special order and such... and i really doubt that kind of equipment would work properly with hibernation.
 
sirstaunch said:
How much power would sleep mode be burning? Couldn't imagine to much¿¿?
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my powerbook loses about 4 percent of its power in 9 hours of sleepmode. lets do some math! (i'm terrible at math, so it will probably be all wrong).


this would be a lot easier if they redid the time according to the decimal-system.

if it loses 100 percent in 4 hours (14400 seconds) when awake (give or take half an hour). then it loses about 1 percent every 144 second.

but when asleep it loses 4 percent in 9 hours (32400 seconds), or 1 percent in every 8100 second.

so it would take 810000 seconds (225 hours) to lose 100 percent.

so it use about 56 times less current during sleep. apply this number to your computers energy drain.

am i right? anyone with Mad Math Skillz?
 
Amie said:
That's very true. However, when I'm finished working on my iBook, regardless of whether I choose shut down or sleep, I close all applications.
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this is a habit i bought over from my PC experiences too. windows, in the way it looks, subconciously tells you to shuit programs down. otherwise you'll get a taskbar full up so fast it hurts. OSX just has a tiny little triangle under each app. it's unobtrusive - it wants you to keep 10 apps open. because you can, without slowing the computer down. (within reason. iphoto and photoshop don't like being open at the same time if i want to do something intensive, IME).

Leave your apps open people. it's so much quicker than letting it load up everytime you want it. it is just a bad windows habit....
 
Quick question though... If your Mac goes to sleep, do scheduled tasks (E-Mail reminders, crontabs, etc.) still work? I had the impression they would not. Also, if your machine was put to sleep, I'd presume it was not possible to get remote access to it (for instance, if you needed to transfer files between home and the office).

...or is sleep "smarter" than I give it credit? ;)
 
Decado said:
my powerbook loses about 4 percent of its power in 9 hours of sleepmode. lets do some math! (i'm terrible at math, so it will probably be all wrong).


this would be a lot easier if they redid the time according to the decimal-system.

if it loses 100 percent in 4 hours (14400 seconds) when awake (give or take half an hour). then it loses about 1 percent every 144 second.

but when asleep it loses 4 percent in 9 hours (32400 seconds), or 1 percent in every 8100 second.

so it would take 810000 seconds (225 hours) to lose 100 percent.

so it use about 56 times less current during sleep. apply this number to your computers energy drain.

am i right? anyone with Mad Math Skillz?
Click to expand...

What was that bit after listen closely?

LOL

It's beyond me, so really, sleep mode uses hardly any power...
 
(Take this with a grain of salt)

I remember reading a few years ago that sleep mode for monitor and CPU consumes less then $15 per year in energy. It may even be less than that now with better technology (course energy rates rise, so maybe not).
 
Lt Major Burns said:
this is a habit i bought over from my PC experiences too. windows, in the way it looks, subconciously tells you to shuit programs down. otherwise you'll get a taskbar full up so fast it hurts. OSX just has a tiny little triangle under each app. it's unobtrusive - it wants you to keep 10 apps open. because you can, without slowing the computer down. (within reason. iphoto and photoshop don't like being open at the same time if i want to do something intensive, IME).

Leave your apps open people. it's so much quicker than letting it load up everytime you want it. it is just a bad windows habit....
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*gasp!*

Leave the applications open ... *twitch*... even when you're finished for the night??? Oh, no ... I ... *twitch* ... don't think ... I could do that. *twitch*

See what Windows has DONE to me?!?!
 
bbloke said:
Quick question though... If your Mac goes to sleep, do scheduled tasks (E-Mail reminders, crontabs, etc.) still work? I had the impression they would not. Also, if your machine was put to sleep, I'd presume it was not possible to get remote access to it (for instance, if you needed to transfer files between home and the office).

...or is sleep "smarter" than I give it credit? ;)
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No, none of the cron scripts run if the computer is in sleep mode.
 
MrNivit1 said:
This is why I would like to see a hibernation option (as in Windows, its a shame OS X does not have this option yet). Store what is in RAM on the harddrive (OS and all programs) and then load it up in that exact state (without having to load all of the OS again, just the disk stored RAM state) when you turn the computer on again. Would this save time/disk usage? Is it efficient?
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Just one problem: Hibernate doesn't work; Sleep does. Windows' Hibernate mode is nothing like Mac's Sleep mode. Sleep *works*. Hibernate is crap and doesn't even work half the time.
 
I hate to advocate turning off your mac, rather than sleeping it, but it does use less power when asleep. Yes, I know its only a couple of watts (I think i read somewhere that a FlatScreen iMac uses ~5W when asleep, ~3 when 'off'), but over the course of the year, it all adds up. Why should this bother you? I dunno, most likely it doesnt. But, if as everyone leaves their computers on sleep, instead of 'off', or even all-the-way-off (ie plug & batteries removed) then the amount of energy used up is far greater...

And before I get eaten, I agree with most of the plus sides to sleeping over shutting down, and tend to leave my powerbook alseep unless im gonna not be using it for more than a couple of days (so its on/asleep most of the time). Im just pointing out an argument, possibly the biggest argument, for shutting down your computer. And turning your telly off at the mains. And all the rest of it, for every appliance you have that goes into standbye instead of all-the-way-off....

Yeesh, i sound like a parent - "Turn off the light when you leave a room!"

Other thing - the guy I live next to at uni goes absolutely nuts when I show him my uptime and how many apps/windows ive got open - his advice is that you should turn your computer all-the-way-off and leave it there for at least 24 hours at least once a week, to give the processor a chance to cool down to room temperature and have a rest. He seems to think that not doing so can shorten the life of a processor. BUT, ive seen nothing to back this up, and to the best of my knowledge, its not happened to any computer Ive ever seen. He uses windows/intel anyway, so isnt used to the joys of MacOSX, though methinks he plans to get a powerbook....

That sure was quite a ramble... Please dont eat me too much!
 
ged3000 said:
Other thing - the guy I live next to at uni goes absolutely nuts when I show him my uptime and how many apps/windows ive got open - his advice is that you should turn your computer all-the-way-off and leave it there for at least 24 hours at least once a week, to give the processor a chance to cool down to room temperature and have a rest. He seems to think that not doing so can shorten the life of a processor. BUT, ive seen nothing to back this up, and to the best of my knowledge, its not happened to any computer Ive ever seen. He uses windows/intel anyway, so isnt used to the joys of MacOSX, though methinks he plans to get a powerbook....
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Heh... theoretically, using the processor less amounts to longer processor life, but the likelihood of the processor going bad in it's lifetime when left completely on all the time is very, very slim. He's extending the life of something that's going to outlive him or his needs anyway, so isn't that kind of pointless?

Using anything less will make whatever it is last longer, but unless he's planning on his computer being handed down for several generations, the lifespan of the processor will be measured by it's useful life (not it's ability to operate correctly), which is usually at lot longer than the operational life in the first place.

Plus, his processor is only going to outlast one left on 24/7 by the amount of time he leaves it off. Running a processor for one, long period of time puts equal amount of wear on the processor as giving the processor a few breaks every now and then. It all depends on powered-on hours -- for example, if a processor was rated for 50,000 hours of life, then using all 50,000 in one swell foop or using 10,000 then resting then using another 10,000 and resting and so on until you reached 50,000 is the same thing.
 
I just saw a piece on BBC about the growth of energy consumption. It mentioned that sleep mode - in all kinds of appliances, microwaves, televisions, computers, dsl modems/switches, timed coffeepots and a hundred others - totals around 10% of electricity demand. Computers are only a small part of that - if you look around the house at night you'll see all kinds of red and orange lights, all making up 10% of your electricity bill.

Hmm my bill is $20 a month (one of Egypt's redeeming graces) so $2 a month for stand-by...
 
pds said:
I just saw a piece on BBC about the growth of energy consumption. It mentioned that sleep mode - in all kinds of appliances, microwaves, televisions, computers, dsl modems/switches, timed coffeepots and a hundred others - totals around 10% of electricity demand. Computers are only a small part of that - if you look around the house at night you'll see all kinds of red and orange lights, all making up 10% of your electricity bill.

Hmm my bill is $20 a month (one of Egypt's redeeming graces) so $2 a month for stand-by...
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Only $20 a month? Wow. I'm moving to Egypt! Why so cheap?
 
Oh, and just for the record: I think I'll just follow what Apple recommends--sleep when using frequently; shut down when not using for a day or two. Yes, I know there are people who *never* shut their laptops down, and there are tons of theories on this. But just to play it safely I'll go with what the company suggests. And using sleep most of the time and shutting down only when not in use for a couple days ... well, it just make sense.

Anyway, thanks again for sharing all your thoughts with me on this, everyone!
 
Here's another question:
I almost never shut-down or sleep my powerbook (the screen goes to sleep after 30 minutes, and the "spin hard-drive down when possible" checkbox is checked, but I never really set it to sleep completely), is that alright? Or should I really be sleeping it or shutting it down?
 
iPenguin said:
Here's another question:
I almost never shut-down or sleep my powerbook (the screen goes to sleep after 30 minutes, and the "spin hard-drive down when possible" checkbox is checked, but I never really set it to sleep completely), is that alright? Or should I really be sleeping it or shutting it down?
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That's fine. Even though you're not actually sleeping it yourself (i.e., closing the lid), you've set your preferences to sleep it after 30 minutes of non-use and you've set your hard drive to spin down as well, so that's fine. It's basically the same thing, only the is open instead of closed. No big deal.
 
The display goes to sleep after thirty minutes, but the the computer itself is set to "never" sleep. Or does that not make any difference, with the "spin hard-drive down" option checked?
 
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