Hello, I've been looking all over the internet in order to find out which is more beneficial to an iMac once I am done using it: putting it to sleep or shutting it down.
There are all sorts of answers on the internet, but I would appreciate if someone with technological experience can answer this question for me.
Thank you in advance.
iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.8)
That issue is often disputed and there is no correct answer. There is also no wrong answer.
FWIW I keep my iMac running 24/7 without Sleep mode, just Screen Sleep enabled. It's a 2010 iMac and I've always done this and never had a problem.
It is totally a matter of personal preference.
I have auto display sleep set to 10 minutes and computer sleep set to never.
I manually sleep the computer, when I'm away for more than an hour or two.
All my computers only gets restarted for macOS updates that require a restart.
FWIW I have never had any problems, going for a month or more between restarts.
To add my 10 cents (inflation), unless your Mac is on a UPS
(uninterruptible power supply), I would not leave it turned on
in any form, full sleep, or screen sleep, etc.
Although most modern computers can usually handle power
burps, sudden shutdowns, etc., there is always the possiblity
of hardware fault because of it but more likely is data corruption,
but not common.
As for me, I shutdown. Likely force of habit since using computers
since the MacPlus (my first Mac) and IBM AT PC. Hard drives then
were were easily ruined by sudden power outages with "head crashes".
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