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Sleep mode, hibernate or off?

I am newish, to the Mac OS. And, thus, curious about what mode is 'best' when the unit is not being used. From the brief info I have seen online, it is recommended to NOT shut it down/off. 


So, is sleep mode the recommendation? And, if so, can one simply get up, walk away from the unit and it will go into sleep mode at some stage?


Thanks all

Posted on Mar 1, 2021 5:30 PM

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Posted on Mar 2, 2021 10:02 AM

Howdy,


I tend to leave my computer on during the day while I'm using it, sleeping it during lunch or if I'm going to be away from it for a short time. But I shut it down at night or if I'm done with it for the day. If a thunderstorm is forecast I even unplug it.


You can use your Energy Saver < System Preference to schedule sleep (or turn display off) after a period of inactivity so when you walk away it will sleep on its own, or manually sleep the computer.



ivan

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Mar 2, 2021 10:02 AM in response to circatee

Howdy,


I tend to leave my computer on during the day while I'm using it, sleeping it during lunch or if I'm going to be away from it for a short time. But I shut it down at night or if I'm done with it for the day. If a thunderstorm is forecast I even unplug it.


You can use your Energy Saver < System Preference to schedule sleep (or turn display off) after a period of inactivity so when you walk away it will sleep on its own, or manually sleep the computer.



ivan

Mar 2, 2021 10:43 AM in response to circatee

I agree with Ivan54 with one exception in regards with putting drives to sleep:



If you have no rotational type of hard drives or Fusion drive I don't check that box. SSDs have no mechanical parts so don't need to be put to sleep. I do sleep the screen.


Also shutting down at night clears out system and application temporary swap and cache files and will help improve performance.


Sleep mode, hibernate or off?

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