How long can a Macbook stay turned on?

I leave my MacBook on 24 hours a day and keep it plugged in for days at a time also.

I have not noticed any battery loss or anything like that.


I mean that's what the MacBook was mean't to be used for.

STAYING ON ALL THE TIME!!


Sam

I'm wondering the same thing. I have the Blackbook that just came in yesterday. It's week 28 model. I'm currently downloading Camino and Teperature Monitor (to actually check the temp), reading the apple forums here, and have Adium running. I've been doing this for about 5 hours, not all the same stuff but similar and it is slightly hot on the top left side and pretty hot on the bottom. I'm not sure the actual temp though. If it does end up overheating, that will suck. I think I should be able to keep my machine on 24/7 without worry if I wanted to. I hope apple addresses people's concerns on these heat issues. I'm scared of all the people reporting that apple is denying the heat issue. The guy I talked to at the apple store said he hadn't heard anyone having any problems with their Macbooks and that it was just a goofy rumor, but that is not what this forum has been saying.

I wouldn't recommend it only from the perspective of wasting electricity and wear and tear on the hard drive. Other then that, I've left my laptop on all day with no ill effects or issues with heat (I thought I had the energy saver preference set to put the mb to sleep - I was wrong).

When its on and idle it sits a specific temp, if it does get too warm the fans kick in. Because its so easy to put it to sleep (close the lid) I'd recommend that over just leaving it on. I keep mine in sleep mode, when I open the lid, its there ready for me in 1/2 second.

Mike

Geez guys, all day? 🙂

First let me tell you that Apple runs them for a full 200 hours continuously before they ever leave the factory.

Second, I've run mine continuously for as long as eight or nine days straight, using it all day and then all night doing various things such as a security cam using Evo Cam which is most excellent webcam software (universal and works with the built-in iSight camera), downloading with Acquisition, generating, from the Evo web cam shots a Quicktime movie for review and at the same time saving streaming music and radio shows all night long using the "iRecordMusic" software. The latter is a great little universal binary program that records each song or radio show as a separate MP3, adds their song title and other related information into a directory which is then incorporated into iTunes and transferred over to my iPod.

So hey, you should be able to run your computer - be it an iMac or MacBook 24/7. That's what they are built to do.

Tim...

20" iMac 2GRam/500G-HD, 13" BlackBook 2GRam/120G-HD, Black Video iPod 60Gig Mac OS X (10.4.7) HPColorLaserJet 2500 Printer, LaCie 500Gig External Drive, LaCie Slim External D

i keep my laptop on 24/7. as of now, it's been running for two weeks, without being shut off. it's shut probably 40% of the time, open for 60%. on the charger half the time, off the charger the other half. it does get hot, but no hotter than my previous ibook, and never uncomfortably hot. i keep an eye on it cause i am a bit concerned about it getting too hot, but so far no problems.

Actually i think there is less wear and tear on the
drive if you leave it on all the time, its starting
up and shutting off that hurts the drive the most.

My Mac webserver has been running for six years without ever being purposely powered off.

The Macbook's harddrive is extremely cool running. When one thinks about the issue, think of servers... standard computers being used as servers. They rarely fail.

Actually i think there is less wear and tear on the drive if you leave it on all the time, its starting up and shutting off that hurts the drive the most.