Do You Shutdown Your Macbook?

[thaicruze]

I was thinking, this thing is almost like a tablet (Air 11"). If you don't shut it down, have any of you had issues with your Macbook for not shutting it down?

My guess is, except for installing updates that require a restart, I can leave my Air on all the time. Unless I know I wont use it for a week or so, or go on vacation. That sort of thing.

Edited October 3, 2012 by thaicruze

[nikster]

You don't shut macs down. Just close the lid, that puts it to sleep.

Newer Mac laptops don't have a sleep indicator light anymore - that's because it's redundant. They're always in sleep mode, and never actually OFF. The other reason is that the sleep indicator drains the battery a bit.

The way Macs have worked for nearly a decade is smart sleep / hibernation: You put the system to sleep. That still has a (small) drain on the battery. But if the battery gets too low, like if you left it like that for 2 weeks, or if the battery was already at a very low level, the Mac saves memory contents to the hard disk, then shuts off. This is transparently implemented - it will wake up from sleep just like normal - but if it's in hibernate mode it will take more time to wake, like 15 seconds instead of turning on instantly.

[nullx8]

I shut it down once, as it run out of juce in the plane, but besides that, NO

Same for my imacs (one will hit its 9th birthday soon still running like a charm with a uptime of over 1 Year)

[FarangBha]

Mine definitely goes to crap if I dont reboot every few days.

[nullx8]

06:50:21 up 309 days, 7:01, 1 user, load average: 0.03, 0.04, 0.00
[altf4@dev]#

never slow or anything, running out of the box, except the canon driver fuc_ked it up once,

just dont install any Microsoft or Adobe Products or even more evil things like mac cleaner

and you good to go like forever.

[nikster]

@nullx8 you clearly need to update your system... software update will cause a restart on mine every month or so when it's installing new stuff.

@FarangBah, there's something wrong with your system then.

[nullx8]

@nullx8 you clearly need to update your system... software update will cause a restart on mine every month or so when it's installing new stuff.

rule number one in Production Computing: Never touch a running system !

there is no difference (and no gain) on receiving Faxes, serving some development pages, keep me a few million mysql rows, and fetching logs from the rest of the network, on a Machine running Panther or one with Lion on it ...

[thaicruze]

I have Dreamweaver, Photoshop and Flash. For cleaners I have ccleaner. I left it on last night. Was nice to have it instantly on this morning connected to my iPhone's hotspot.

I'll try it like this for a while. This is instant on and off so I don't see the point in shutting it down. Powering up takes 12 seconds anyway. I'll leave it on.

Anyway. I'm a new user. I've had this maybe 3 or 4 weeks so, I'm getting used to it. The hardest thing is to realize you just USE the computer. Just use it. Don't worry about anti viruses, or registry whatever. I use Ccleaner to clean out temporary files from the internet basically. but i think i'm about to get rid of that too.

......

as a matter of fact, i just dumped it. Done. I need to really let go of Windows. Safari emptied the history weekly, so what am I using that for? It's just years and years of Windows maintenance.

OK. Close the lid. Use the computer. Enjoy. Weird..

Edited October 3, 2012 by thaicruze

[thaicruze]

Mine definitely goes to crap if I dont reboot every few days.

hmmm.. some app running in the background causing it probably.

[dominique355]

I have the new MacBook Pro Retina and usually I just close the lid.

But every now and then, when I open the lid, the display goes crazy and shows little squares of the image only if I move the mouse. Waiting is not helping, only a total off power and on power.

Wonder if someone else has experienced this problem.

[ianwuk]

I turn off my MBP when not in use. I hardly ever put it to sleep.

[jcnbkk]

I took an introduction course at an apple store in the US when I got my Macbook Pro last fall. They said you never have to shut down your mac, but recommend it if your not going to use it for a few days or more. They did recommend your turn off your iPhone about once a week, even just for a minute, as a sort of a reset.

I asked the tech how long he'd had his laptop, curious about battery life by doing this an he said 3 years. The batteries have a certain number of life cycles (recharge cycles) built in and its a lot.

Still I wondered if they don't mind you needing to come in at some point to change the battery at how much..?

[ianwuk]

I am also wondering how long the average battery lasts. I am thinking of getting a battery replacement, I have an Applecare warranty plan, does it cover this?

[nikster]

I am also wondering how long the average battery lasts. I am thinking of getting a battery replacement, I have an Applecare warranty plan, does it cover this?

- Average battery lasts - I don't know. It depends on your use pattern. I am a very heavy user of batteries and my unibody MBP battery lasted 2 years

- Yes it will be replaced under AppleCare, because Apple promises a battery life of 5 years on the new non-replaceable batteries. The old replaceable batteries were guaranteed only for 1 year (which is standard in the PC world by the way). Go to any authorized Apple dealer.

- Got mine replaced - they will run a hardware diagnostic tool. If I was you I'd just get iStatPro, or some other tool that can show your battery health - health is the % of charge it can still hold from new. Apple will replace your battery if health drops under 80%.

If you're out of warranty, the battery replacement costs between $160 - $190. Yet another reason to get AppleCare 3 year warranty.

[ianwuk]

Thanks for that Nik. Can you recommend me any decent Thai Apple resellers in Bangkok to take my MBP to or are they all the same?

I would also like to get my superdrive replaced if possible also, would that be covered?

What do I need to take with me to the store? The Macbook Pro (obviously) and my Applecare documentation? Will they replace the parts the same day or do I have to drop the Macbook off and pick it up after a few days

I am considering these 'repairs' or just selling the MBP (mid-2010 13 inch with max 8GB RAM and 750GB hard drive and all original disks and some accessories + Applecare warranty) for 30k but I have no idea how to advertise it for sale or anything like that. It is not like the UK here where I can go to a shop and get trade in value or whatever.

Edited November 6, 2012 by ianwuk

[denkiblue555]

(Pre-Unibody MBP 15)

Four and a half years without switching off except when moving countries.

I simply 'dim' the screen right down when I am not using it.

Still seems to work fine, although my fan is now making a clicking sound.

My trackpad button has died and the trackpad its self is now on the way out!

(So I often use an external mouse)

FWIW

[DMC1]

I am also wondering how long the average battery lasts. I am thinking of getting a battery replacement, I have an Applecare warranty plan, does it cover this?

I went to MCC on 5th floor of Siam Discovery in BKK about 10 days ago. They moved up one floor and the young chap in the 4th floor iStudio pointed me in the right direction. I was worried about my battery health as it was showing 78% after only 19 months but only 20 cycles. Yes, I know I hardly use the battery & always have it plugged in. I also always shut it down when not in use.

They ran a full diagnostic scan and told me my battery is fine but I must start to use it more & follow monthly calibration procedure. They assured me the health will rise after further Mountain Lion updates. I have also had many crashing issues since insatalling Mountain Lion - that's another issue.

They also noticed that my Card Reader slot is dead so offered to replace my logic board when it is more convenient for me. I still have 17 months more on my Apple Care.

[bubba]

Two considerations for me when sleeping my MacBook Air:

- Sleep does use battery power. Not a lot, but some, and this becomes more significant as the battery ages. For example, the night before a flight, I shut mine down if will be taking a flight the next day and want to watch a movie or get some work done on an airplane that does not have power points. And yes, Thai's decrepit old A330-300s do not have power points, even in business class.

- As time goes on, memory gets a little wasted and is not recoverable, even when an application is closed. MBAs come with 4GB of memory, and that's not a huge amount, so you often get in to virtual memory usage. An occasional restart will free up this memory and will make things run faster.