Ok to leave the macbook on 24/7?

Mine seems to work better if I leave it on 24/7. If I shut it down and let it cool off, then I get random shutdowns. I have mine set to allow the display to go to sleep, but not the computer, since if it goes to sleep I also have random shutdowns.

Personally I think having the components heat up and cool down frequently is what stresses them and causes things to start malfunctioning (particularly since this system seems to allow a lot of heat to build up inside). Seems like keeping a relatively constant temperature would cause less stress. But that's just my opinion....

i leave mine on all the time. i just close the lid when im not using it. I usally have about 7-8 days of uptime before i shut it off.


mini 1.42,macbook (white) , Powermac G4 Mac OS X (10.4.7)

I don't think it is bad to leave it on all the time.


I leave mine on all day and every day and I always leave it plugged in.

but I do also wonder if it is bad to have it on all the time and plugged in.

That's putting it to sleep, which beyond powering the
ram, is identical to shutting it down in a hardware
sense.

Really? I never considered it that way. That said, while I don't think it's bad to have the computer up and running for extended times 24/7...I think it's probably better and wiser to let it go to sleep now and then. It takes so little to bring it back on up, so why not?

What are you planning on doing that you can't let the computer sleep now and then?

personally i'm afraid to leave mine on 24/7. i'm on my 2nd now and have had intermittent issues with this one, too, and would hate to have anything additional happen. YMMV, of course, but my feeling is you're rolling the dice.

The only real concern about leaving a computer on all the time would be that it is relatively taxing on the lifetime of the cpu (the higher the temperature and the longer the cpu is run the shorter it will last). When put in perspective however this is a pretty insignificant concern for a few reasons. First of all I really doubt we are going to be worrying about a cpu frying in 10 years from now. Second of all mobile processors are made from the creme of the silicon crop with less impurities and much higher tolerances for heat. For this reason the relatively high temperatures (60-70c) that a macbook can experience at low usage levels shouldn't really put the cpu at any heightened risk. You should be fine leaving it on all the time even though "technically" it won't neccesarily last as long it will last plenty long enough.

I leave my computers on 24/7 and have no problems. It's the same as turning on and off the lights in your house. One day when you turn on the lights, it burns out the bulb. It's better to leave it on.

If you simply want to leave it on so it can run it's maintanence scripts, why not run Onyx?

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/20070

I personally would not leave my macbook on 24/7.
It's on when I need it, and sleeping when I dont.

I run Onyx once a week, or so.

My BlackBook is on 24/7. I use it throughout the day for a whole host of things and when I leave the office at night it will be rendering a movie, downloading various (medical) records, files and information.

The only time it is not on is when I picked it up and handcarry it to lunch or afternoon coffee (wherein I am using WiFi). Once returned to the office it is reconnected via Ethernet and adapter.

In short, the machine is a champion work-aholic! 🙂

Tim...

I usally shut down mine if Im not going to use it for a couple hours. The startup is so fast its not a hassle.

doesnt your macbook get extremely hot when plugged in all the time?....b/c that's what i want to do but it get really hot when im charging it.

yes... even if you leave it on and the cpu doesn't last as long.. i got applecare so if it fails.. bam its replaced if its in 3 years 🙂

Windows XP, hp pavilion ze4400 notebook, Windows XP