Carried my MacBook Pro in sleep mode indadvertedly... Is there any harm?

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Level 3

714 points

Carried my MacBook Pro in sleep mode indadvertedly... Is there any harm?

Hello,

I am writing this message because I seemed to have carried my MacBook Pro inside my college backpack for more than five hours while it was on sleep mode. I just discovered this as I opened my Mac to "turn it on" for more use; as soon as I lifted the monitor, the computer sprang to life. I was off course surprised because when I left my last class I can say my intent was to shutdown the computer and not put it to sleep, and much less I did not seem to notice the sleep indicator light in the front of the computer when I took my MacBook Pro out of the backpack when I arrived home. Also, there was not any thermal indication (i.e. the computer was hot when taken out of the backpack) that could tell me the computer was on or in standby mode.

If you are asking, it is my custom to shut down my MacBook Pro as a power saving measure in between class breaks and my drive home (some can say it's a habit from my previous Windows world experience).

Before I finish this message I was wondering if there is a risk in carrying my MacBook Pro inside a bookbag while in sleep mode and if the strains to the components of the computer is "practically" the same as if I were carrying the computer shut down.

Thanks for your time and attention on this question.

MacBook Pro (15-inch Mid 2010), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.4), i5; 4GB; 500GB HD; NVIDIA 330m 256

Posted on Aug 3, 2013 6:36 PM

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Answer 1

Aug 3, 2013 6:50 PM in response to vea1083

carrying it around while sleeping is fine, others may disagree. I never shut mine down really while in college.

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Answer 2

Aug 3, 2013 6:57 PM in response to shldr2thewheel

When your MacBook Pro goes into sleep mode the processor goes into a low-power mode, video is turned off, hard disks spin down, and so on. There is not much going on while the computer is in sleep mode so there isn't much heat generated. While it is a good idea to turn it off when traveling it won't hurt anything if you don't.

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Answer 3

Dec 28, 2013 4:35 AM in response to shldr2thewheel

I used to do the same but recently I started to have overheating problems. The computer would be burning hot inside the backpack and the fan would be running full speed making a lot of noise and I'd have to force shut it down. I'm not 100% this is the cause, but after my computer stopped working well and I took it to professional support, they told me I can't do it. They said I have to shut it down each and everytime, which is a pain. I live in Rio and it's above 30ºC most of the year, maybe that also contributes to the problem, don't know. They said the hard disk is not off during sleep mode and carrying it around may cause problems. They said my hard disk was damaged, changed it and said it's good now.

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Answer 4

hands4

Level 4

2,246 points

Dec 28, 2013 4:43 AM in response to vea1083

Yes, you will get differng opinions on this topic. When it is in sleep mode it is safe to carry in a backpack. However occasinally it might not be dozing when you think it is and then it can overheat in the backback. That has happened to me twice in a decade so it is rare but can happen. So either shut it down or take care to note it is really sleeping.

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