POLL: Turn your Mac off or leave it on every night?

[Kubi]

I turn it off 95% of the time overnight. I do find that regularly shutting down makes for a more stable performance, so I'll shut down my wife's laptop about once or twice a week (she usually sleeps it.)

Do perform the cron scripts regularly, via terminal or cocktail or onyx or similar.

[grouse]

Everything off, saves energy for sure. I flick the socket switch off at the wall too and use MacJanitor. I reckon there has to be some benefits for the machine too by completely turning it off.

[Dave Bourke]

Everything gets turned OFF at night here. Including me.

Kind regards.

[Phil O]

Phil how is Macpilot?

I downloaded the demo and played around with it, but let the demo period run out. From what I remember it looked like a well put together utility. I'm getting pretty good at doing what I need done through Terminal, so I never bought it. As I recall, it was a generous demo period. Download the demo and check it out.

Phil

[jeff sanders]

i turn my off at night but i have left it on for up to a week before. it does the snore thing with the light.

[kassonica]

Well I've been told by tech geeks at apple that rebooting your computer once a day shortens the life of the HD considerably as the stress of starting up the drive and loading the OS is the hardest thing it does.

So I leave mine on 24/7 unless going away then off.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Well I've been told by tech geeks at apple that rebooting your computer once a day shortens the life of the HD considerably as the stress of starting up the drive and loading the OS is the hardest thing it does.

So I leave mine on 24/7 unless going away then off.

Translation: Leaving your computer on 24/7 shortens it's life and requires that you buy a new one every 2 or 3 years, thereby keeping these geniuses employed.

I don't know about where you live, but some of the employee type folks floating around the Apple store in Glendale, CA (which they claim was the first one) are not really all that knowledgeable about in depth issues and general hardware issues like hard drive life. I take everything a salesman says with a grain of salt (as some may have noticed). They are, after all, kept working by reaching into your pockets.

[kassonica]

Well I've been told by tech geeks at apple that rebooting your computer once a day shortens the life of the HD considerably as the stress of starting up the drive and loading the OS is the hardest thing it does.

So I leave mine on 24/7 unless going away then off.

Translation: Leaving your computer on 24/7 shortens it's life and requires that you buy a new one every 2 or 3 years, thereby keeping these geniuses employed.

I don't know about where you live, but some of the employee type folks floating around the Apple store in Glendale, CA (which they claim was the first one) are not really all that knowledgeable about in depth issues and general hardware issues like hard drive life. I take everything a salesman says with a grain of salt (as some may have noticed). They are, after all, kept working by reaching into your pockets.

Mmm

INteresting.

[donreynolds]

I leave mine on most of the time and set it to sleep after 1 hour of non use. I turn it off 2-3 times a week and repair permissions. I always turn my monitors off when I am done.

[cbergm7210]

Well I've been told by tech geeks at apple that rebooting your computer once a day shortens the life of the HD considerably as the stress of starting up the drive and loading the OS is the hardest thing it does.

So I leave mine on 24/7 unless going away then off.

Translation: Leaving your computer on 24/7 shortens it's life and requires that you buy a new one every 2 or 3 years, thereby keeping these geniuses employed.

I don't know about where you live, but some of the employee type folks floating around the Apple store in Glendale, CA (which they claim was the first one) are not really all that knowledgeable about in depth issues and general hardware issues like hard drive life. I take everything a salesman says with a grain of salt (as some may have noticed). They are, after all, kept working by reaching into your pockets.

Maybe the Apple techs down under know something our's don't here in the US of A, eh?

[mhschmieder]

Considering the built-in monitor, what's the best recipe for an iMac? I've always turned mine off when done. With towers, I usually leave them on but turn the monitors off. Same with Mac Mini at work.

[monkey man]

Off.

My power supply has been unstable for years, and I don't yet have a conditioner. I'd still probably turn it off even if I had one though; I feel that the rebooting helps to keep gremlins at bay and I also appreciate the power-cost saving.

[denlap2005]

I rarely turn my iMac OFF, I put It to sleep.

[Jim]

I feel that the rebooting helps to keep gremlins at bay and I also appreciate the power-cost saving.

Same here, Nick. Despite what many say, OSX benefits from re-booting to clear caches and fragmented RAM.

I've also managed to reduce my electric bill by about $40 / month by turning off my lights when I leave the room, and shutting down my computers at night.

What's best for the computer and electronics is one of those debates where both sides have valid points. So, in the end, I favor the cost-cutting option.

[mhschmieder]

Where do you live that you can reduce your electric bill by $40 a month without going into negative territory?

My electric bill is only $10 to $15 per month. But then, I was brought up to conserve from an early age.

If your bill is that high, that's another reason for me to NOT leave my computer on (I always turn it off)!