General Question

gailcalled's avatar

For Mac 10 X, is sleep mode better rather than turning on and off?

Asked by gailcalled (54644points) December 21st, 2006
My sis and I both have Macs; I put mine to "sleep" except when power outages possible; she always turns hers off and then boots up each AM. I figure that "sleep" mode is there for a reason.
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9 Answers

andrew's avatar
I think they're interchangeable. I think sleep mode uses less power than turning on and off, and there's been some speculation about wear-and-tear on the motherboard. Personally, I always sleep because I'm too lazy/impatient to power down and up.
andrew (16543points)“Great Answer” (0points) Flag as…
b's avatar
Sleeping is better than turning your computer on and off if you use the computer regularly. I keep my Mac on (or sleeping) most of the time, only shutting it down for storms and such. Shutting down daily adds wear and tear to your hardware and uses more power than sleeping.
b (1873points)“Great Answer” (0points) Flag as…
samkusnetz's avatar
you cannot qualitatively compare sleep and shutdown; they serve different purposes.
samkusnetz (1210points)“Great Answer” (0points) Flag as…
samkusnetz's avatar
- a shut down computer uses zero electricity; sleeping uses very little, but some.
samkusnetz (1210points)“Great Answer” (0points) Flag as…
samkusnetz's avatar
- booting from scratch takes longer than waking from sleep.
samkusnetz (1210points)“Great Answer” (0points) Flag as…
samkusnetz's avatar
- some system diagnostic and cache-clearing processes only occur on a proper reboot, not on a wake from sleep. mac os x (and many other flavors of *nix) theoretically shouldn't require restarts to maintain performance, but the occasional full reboot can often clear up seemingly inexplicable problems.
samkusnetz (1210points)“Great Answer” (0points) Flag as…
samkusnetz's avatar
- the sleep indicator led is frigging bright and i for one find it hard to sleep in the same room as a sleeping mac.
samkusnetz (1210points)“Great Answer” (0points) Flag as…
b's avatar
Shut down does use zero power, but starting consumes a lot of electricity. If you are regularly turning you computer on and off, if consumes more power than letting it sleep.
b (1873points)“Great Answer” (0points) Flag as…
gailcalled's avatar
zzz it is. Thanks, everyone.
gailcalled (54644points)“Great Answer” (0points) Flag as…

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