Should I shut down my iMac at night?

I never turn off my iMac. But now with all of the green environmental awareness and escalating price of electricity I wonder if I should regularly turn it off. In the past I remember being told that turning off and on ages the computer more rapidly and makes the chance of a part failure more likely. I also wonder how much I'll save on my electric bill by shutting down for around ten hours a day versus having it in the sleep mode for those ten hours.

Hello BluSky:
You will, I am sure, get differing opinions. I never shut my iMacs down unless I am leaving town for several days. I always put them to sleep. The Macs draw very little power while they are fully asleep.
I come from the school that feels that repetitive on/off of electronics shortens the mean time to failure. (not scientific, let me hasten to say).
Barry

Similar Messages

Should i shut down my imac

should i shut down my imac or leave it running all the time?

You should only shut it down when leaving the computer unattended for more than a few days or working inside the case. Otherwise, sleeping it is enough.
(82284)

Should I shut down my iPhone every night? Sleep vs shut-down.

Hi, If I never use my phone during the night, should I shut it right down every night? How much energy is used when the iPhone "sleeps" for 8 hours?
Thanks for your thoughts on this!

My battery will loose about 10% (polling email every hour, and push IM left on) over 7.5 hours.
You can leave it on and I think Apple intend people do, because otherwise alarms will not go off, I use the alarms to wake me up The best option is to leave it on and plugged in.

After shutting down my iMac last night, Firefox will not open this morning and I don't know why?

My iMac is set to open to my home page My Yahoo with Firefox browser. This morning my Firefox browser is not opening and I don't know why? It does open on my new MacBook Air as per usual. I click on the icon but it does not respond even though I have opened it. this has never happened to me before and I don't know why it's happening now. I did a clean reinstall but that didn't work. Now what?????? With the add-on Troubleshooter should I have asked this question on my iMac using Safari? I am on my MacBook Air asking it.

Actually it does open but nothing shows up. I can't use my iMac unless I use the Safari browser and I want to use Firefox! I'm at my wits end as to how to fix this. I have tried everything that troubleshooting has suggested on Mozilla support. Help!!!!!!!!

Should I shut down my OS X 10.9.4 Mac each night, yes or no? Explain why.

Should I shut down my OS X 10.9.4 Mac each night, yes or no? Explain.

I was just curious if there is any harm in shutting it down each night.
That's the difficult part. You'll get answers both ways. You could call Apple's tech support and the person you have on the phone will tell you to leave it on. Call back, and someone else will tell you to turn it off.
Back in the days of much flakier hardware (I mean, way back), our first computer was an IBM XT clone running DOS 3.1. We always turned it off when not in use. Never had a problem with it. Nor have I ever had an issue turning our various computers off over the past 30 years. I just don't see why I'd want to leave it on, uselessly using electricity sitting idle.
If I have to walk away from it for a bit, I'll leave it on. But if I know it's going to be a couple of hours or more before I get back to the computer, off it goes. Whether it's first thing in the morning, or turning it on again midday, waiting a lousy minute for it to come to the desktop from a cold start rather than more quickly coming out of sleep mode isn't that big of a deal.

Should i shut down my macbook air each night

how often should i shut down my macbook air?

if youre not using it for a few hours
leaving your macbook both ON charge AND in sleep mode is bad on the battery
merely in sleep is another matter, which is fine.
Considerations for the long life of your MacBook. Handling and environmental care tips
General consideration of your MacBook battery
Contrary to popular myths about notebook batteries, there is protection circuitry in your Macbook and therefore you cannot ‘overcharge’ your notebook when plugged in and already fully charged.
However if you do not plan on using your notebook for several hours, turn it off (plugged in or otherwise), since you do not want your Macbook ‘both always plugged in and in sleep mode’.
A lot of battery experts call the use of Lithium-Ion cells the "80% Rule", meaning use 80% of the full charge or so, then recharge them for longer overall life. The only quantified damage done in the use of Lithium Ion batteries are instances where the internal notebook battery is “often drained very low”, this is bad general use of your notebook battery.
A person who has, for example, 300 charge cycles on their battery and is recharging at say 40% remaining of a 100% charge has a better battery condition state than, say, another person who has 300 charge cycles on their battery and is recharging at say 10-15% remaining on a 100% charge. DoD (depth of discharge) is much more important on the wear and tear on your Macbook’s battery than the count of charge cycles. There is no set “mile” or wear from a charge cycle in specific. Frequent high depth of discharge rates (draining the battery very low) on a Lithium battery will hasten the lowering of maximum battery capacity.
All batteries in any device are a consumable meant to be replaced eventually after much time, even under perfect use conditions.
If the massive amount of data that exists on lithium batteries were to be condensed into a simplex, helpful, and memorable bit of information it would be:
1. While realistically a bit impractical during normal everyday use, a lithium battery's longevity and its chemistry's health is most happy swinging back and forth between 20% and 85% charge roughly.
2. Do not purposefully drain your battery very low (10% and less), and do not keep them charged often or always high (100%).
3. Lithium batteries do not like the following:
A: Deep discharges, as meaning roughly 10% or less on a frequent basis.
B: Rapid discharges as referring to energy intensive gaming on battery on a frequent basis (in which case while gaming, if possible, do same on power rather than battery). This is a minor consideration.
C: Constant inflation, as meaning always or most often on charge, and certainly not both in sleep mode and on charge always or often.
From Apple on batteries:
http://www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.html
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1446
"Apple does not recommend leaving your portable plugged in all the time."

Do I need to shut down my iMac (intel) before attaching an external HD?

Hi
Should I be shutting down my iMac before plugging in an external HD (LaCie). It'll go to the FW800 or eSata port.
Thanks
Allen

You certainly don't need to shut down your computer at all, but remember that when you want to remove the external drive, make sure you either drag its icon to the trash or use the eject ⌘ e command.

Should I shut down my computer when not in use

should I shut down my computer when not in use, overnight for instance?

Hello! Leaving it on 24/7/365 is perfectly acceptable. You may save some electricity but personally I think you'll pay for it with a more troublesome system. I do however set the monitors to go to sleep. I like the no startup lag time of running 24/7/365. That said, if I lived in an area prone to electrical outages or if my location was prone to lightening strikes I'd probably shut it down and unplugged. Of course with it being unplugged the pram battery may run down. These old G4's have been running 24/7/365 for years now. I do try to restart every few weeks just for good measure! In the end it's your preference. The hardware works best when a constant temperature is maintained. Tom

Should i shut down my computer every day

Should i shut down my hp desktop computer every day or leave it running
This question was solved.
View Solution.

Hi,
The following article may help you to make decision:
http://lifehacker.com/5940176/is-it-bad-to-shutdown-my-computer-regularly-or-leave-it-on-all-the-tim...
My experiences: there are many computer equipments have been running 10 or even 20 years continuously and now no one is willing to turn them off because they may never turn on again. Just ask someone who has few FEP's (Front End Processor) running now.
Regards.
BH
**Click the KUDOS thumb up on the left to say 'Thanks'**
Make it easier for other people to find solutions by marking a Reply 'Accept as Solution' if it solves your problem.

My external drive won't eject. should I shut down my computer? It says if I force eject, I might lose info stored!

My exernal drive will not eject. Should I shut down my computer? It says if I force eject I might lose info!

Hey I typically have this problem as well. For starters what steps have you went to to eject the drive? Have you just done it from finder or have you gone to the Disk Utility and tried to eject from there as well? If not then I would recommend this first. I would also recommend before doing anything to save any neccessary information that was placed on the drive locally if possible.

Backup drive keeps rotating after shutting down the iMac

Hi,
since I installed Leopard, my backup drive (LaCie USB) stays in operational mode after I shut down the iMac (intel 20").
When I choose to shut down the mac, the drive starts to rotate but doesn't stop... Under Tiger this wasn't an issue.
I think the problem is that Leopard doesn't "tell" the LaCie drive to go in sleep mode before the computer shuts down.
Does anyone experience the same problem and know what the solution is?
regards, Martijn

Actually it does open but nothing shows up. I can't use my iMac unless I use the Safari browser and I want to use Firefox! I'm at my wits end as to how to fix this. I have tried everything that troubleshooting has suggested on Mozilla support. Help!!!!!!!!

Why can I not restart or shut down my imac without using the power button?

why can I not restart or shut down my imac without using the power button?

Reset the SMC and then try a restart or shutdown from the drop down menus.
Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)
Then if that doesn't work, backup because you have an OS X issue that will require either a repair or reinstall.

IPhoto shuts down my iMac

When I try to work in iPhoto it shuts down my iMac. I had a lot of problems with iPhoto in December and worked with an Apple Advisor then to rebuild my library and every thing was fine for a while... then the shut downs started happening. Randomly at first, now all the time. I have a 24" iMac with 4G ram, my library has 11K photos... running most current versions of both iPhoto and Lion. Have MobileMe but haven't switched to iCloud yet. Evidently I'm no longer covered under Applecare as the advisor informed me when I called. He suggested one option would be to lug my computer into a genius bar, not easily done and wondering how this would be a hardware issue... although I'm willing to do this to resolve this issue. Any advice/suggestions would be appreciated.

First launch iPhoto with the Option key held down and create a new, test library. Import some photos and check to see if the same problem persists. If it doesn't the the problem lies with your original library.
In that case make a temporary, backup copy (select the library and type Command+D) and apply the two fixes below in order as needed:
Fix #1
Launch iPhoto with the Command+Option keys held down and rebuild the library.
Select the options identified in the screenshot.
Fix #2
Using iPhoto Library Manager to Rebuild Your iPhoto Library
Download iPhoto Library Manager and launch.
Click on the Add Library button, navigate to your Home/Pictures folder and select your iPhoto Library folder.
Now that the library is listed in the left hand pane of iPLM, click on your library and go to the File ➙ Rebuild Library menu option
In the next window name the new library and select the location you want it to be placed.
Click on the Create button.
Note: This creates a new library based on the LIbraryData.xml file in the library and will recover Events, Albums, keywords, titles and comments but not books, calendars or slideshows. The original library will be left untouched for further attempts at fixing the problem or in case the rebuilt library is not satisfactory.
If the new, test library also crashes your Mac a reinstall of iPhoto is indicated. To do so you'll have to delete the current application and all files with "iPhoto" in the file name with either a .PKG or .BOM extension that reside in the HD/Library/Receipts folder and from the /var/db/receipts/ folder,
Click to view full size
Then install iPhoto from the disk it came on originally and apply all applicable updaters.
OT

I can't shut down my imac..

Hi all,
I can't shut down my imac.. The shutting down button doesn't work and also pressing the power button doesn't work.. The message "Are you sure you want to shut down your computer now", it's not coming up anymore.. what can I do? Is the only way to remove the plug?
(ps. no programs are on)
Thanks!!

Did you try Keyboard shortcuts?

Should I shut down my mac pro every night

Just purchase a Macbook Pro, should I shut it down every night?

leroydouglas wrote:
Never heard that advice before. The kb certainly does not say that.
Big difference from your statement compare ""Apple does not recommend leaving your portable plugged in all the time."
I think using the battery regularly is a better interpretation.
I would submit that is the way most people use their Portables, close the lid.
You absolutely misunderstood I referred to BOTH "on power AND in sleep mode"
     not to: "closing the lid ,... sleep mode"
Using the battery regularly can mean anything as a generalization.
That advice on parasitic charging is correct.   Which referres to BOTH in sleep AND on power...   not however to merely "in sleep mode"
There is no etrecheck for parasitic battery charging,   ..... NOR is there any such check for both:
1. fast discharges
3. low discharges
As such that battery information you provided above doesnt report bad abuse / misuse of a battery.
Nor does / can Etrecheck report on physical abuse of any macbook, logically.
Battery abuse / misuse is a type of physical abuse, chemistry of the battery abuse, however its internal.
I did not say the KB article said that,    what it says:
http://www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.html
"Apple does not recommend leaving your portable plugged in all the time."
So, you misunderstood.
Apples recommendation refers to micro-cycling the battery and to parasitic charging in the above quote, that it doesnt elaborate on the specifics of same
is irrelevant.
The implication from same is exactly this
*If you don’t plan on using it for a few hours, turn it OFF (plugged in or otherwise) ..*You don’t want your Macbook both always plugged in AND in sleep mode       (When portable devices are charging and in the on or sleep position, the current that is drawn through the device is called the parasitic load and will alter the dynamics of charge cycle. Battery manufacturers advise against parasitic loading because it induces mini-cycles.)
Keeping batteries connected to a charger ensures that periodic "top-ups" do very minor but continuous damage to individual cells, hence Apples recommendation above:   “Apple does not recommend leaving your portable plugged in all the time”, …this is because “Li-ion degrades fastest at high state-of-charge”.
                    This is also the same reason new Apple notebooks are packaged with 50% charges and not 100%.
Contrary to popular myths about notebook batteries, there is protection circuitry in your Macbook and therefore you cannot ‘overcharge’ your notebook when plugged in and already fully charged.
However if you do not plan on using your notebook for several hours, turn it off (plugged in or otherwise), since you do not want your Macbook ‘both always plugged in and in sleep mode’.
A lot of battery experts call the use of Lithium-Ion cells the "80% Rule", meaning use 80% of the full charge or so, then recharge them for longer overall life. The only quantified damage done in the use of Lithium Ion batteries are instances where the internal notebook battery is “often drained very low”, this is bad general use of your notebook battery.
A person who has, for example, 300 charge cycles on their battery and is recharging at say 40% remaining of a 100% charge has a better battery condition state than, say, another person who has 300 charge cycles on their battery and is recharging at say 10-15% remaining on a 100% charge. DoD (depth of discharge) is much more important on the wear and tear on your Macbook’s battery than the count of charge cycles. There is no set “mile” or wear from a charge cycle in specific. Frequent high depth of discharge rates (draining the battery very low) on a Lithium battery will hasten the lowering of maximum battery capacity.
All batteries in any device are a consumable meant to be replaced eventually after much time, even under perfect use conditions.
If the massive amount of data that exists on lithium batteries were to be condensed into a simplex, helpful, and memorable bit of information it would be:
1. While realistically a bit impractical during normal everyday use, a lithium battery's longevity and its chemistry's health is most happy swinging back and forth between 20% and 85% charge roughly.
2. Do not purposefully drain your battery very low (10% and less), and do not keep them charged often or always high (100%).
3. Lithium batteries do not like the following:
A: Deep discharges, as meaning roughly 10% or less on a frequent basis.
B: Rapid discharges as referring to energy intensive gaming on battery on a frequent basis (in which case while gaming, if possible, do same on power rather than battery). This is a minor consideration.
C: Constant inflation, as meaning always or most often on charge, and certainly not both in sleep mode and on charge always or often.
From Apple on batteries:
http://www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.html
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1446
Bad discharging or battery use conditions:
Heat (due to environmental conditions or due to rapid discharges from heavy use = gaming / video editing)
Rapid discharging of the battery frequently causes chemical changes over time in the battery leading to decreased capacity and resistance of current flow.
The very worst use of your battery is often draining the battery very low, and worse still letting it remain in such a state.
*Most long-term rapid damage to the battery occurs from discharging it with high loading (gaming) conditions but paramount is avoiding deep and frequent low DOD (depths of discharge) in use.
Undesirable charging or charged conditions:
High perpetual SOC (state of charge), where the battery is always or very often connected to charge
Parasitic loading where the battery is both usually on and charging or worse both always charging and in sleep mode, since this induces mini-cycling of the battery.
Bad general handling conditions:
Temperature use conditions when either too hot (95F and above) or too cold (50F and below)
Storing your battery away with a low charge (40% and less) long-term.
Considerations:
Your battery is subject to chemical aging even if not in use. A Lithium battery is aging as soon as its made, regardless.
In a perfect (although impractical) situation, your lithium battery is best idealized swinging back and forth between 20 and 85% SOC (state of charge) roughly.
Further still how you discharge the battery is far more important than how it is either charged or stored short term.
Ultimately counting charge cycles is of little to no importance. Abuse in discharging (foremost), charging, and storing the battery and how it affects battery chemistry is important and not the ‘odometer’ reading, or cycle counts on the battery.
Everything boils down to battery chemistry long term, and not an arbitrary number, or cycle count.
Keep your macbook plugged in when near a socket since in the near end of long-term life, this is beneficial to the battery.

Should I shut down my iMac at night?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for