Should i put my macbook to sleep over night or just shut it down?

Question

im not sure if i should shut my macbook down or just put it on sleep mode usually i let it sleep during the day and before i go to bed i shut it down would it be ok to just let it sleep? or should i continue what im doing?

Answer 1

I would recommend shutting it down. If you leave it on, even if it's sleeping, that's 8 hours of wasted energy (or however long you sleep for). It's not a ton of waste, and it's definitely not running up a lot of extra money on your energy bills, but it'd be a better choice to shut it off. Computers need to be off sometimes.

Answer 2

People that figure if you shut off your computer, you're saving its parts, are actually wrong. I read somewhere recently that having your computer on will actually save its hardware, as the stress from booting up your computer to shutting it down is hard on your parts. Now, its minor, but you could go either way, do what you want, if you want to save energy, shut it down, it really won't affect the computer. But it really doesn't matter.

Answer 3

how "green" do u want to be? shutting it down will use less power obviously so if your really conscious about that kind of stuff shut it down any time your not going to be using it for a while. it might put minor wear on the computer leaving it on but its not going to drastically reduce the life of your macbook or anything. I personally leave mine on 24 hours a day and dont even put it to sleep unless im moving it since i do tons of small things on it throughout the day and even in the middle of the night sometimes.

as far as the best thing for your computer goes, just keep this in mind, the most likely thing to break due to normal wear and tear is the hard drive. every time u start the computer the hard drive is used quite a bit. leaving your computer on 24 hours a day like me isnt exactly a solution though since that puts general strain on the entire system, and a restart can make ur computer run like its right out of the box if its been running for the last 2 months straight. the key is balance, if your not concerned about the couple cents leave it sleep mode overnight. anything over 8 hours without use and shut it down.

hey jung, she said its a macbook, so its most likely running osx as its primary os, so telling her about hibernation is pointless

Answer 4

Hi Regan

Your best bet is to ise the Hibernation option. At least, you conserve energy and when you use it the next time, it will take you exactly where you left off even if you had applications running.

Answer 5

A computer in sleep mode uses very little energy...and it's not exactly good for you to constantly start up and shut down your computer.

I have a macbook...I have it set to go to sleep as soon as I shut it.  Every once in awhile I turn it off to give it some rest (if I'm gone all day or something) but it's almost always on, and it still runs beautifully.  (i've had it for over two years now)

Answer 6

If your concern is energy usage, you can just put it in sleep mode.

-MM