Leaving a MocBook Pro on 24/7

ChrisD.

ChrisD.

ChrisD.

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Currently I leave my PC on 24/7 but it idles at around 230W. It's only needed for some basic web tasks so it's a little overkill.

I'd like to have my MacBook Pro take over this 24/7 role when it's at home. I have read up and gather I need Caffeine to stop it going to sleep but is there anything else I need or perhaps something I need to be weary of?
 
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personally i use insomniax, the only thing that you need to be weary of when using these programs that prevent dimming of screen and going to sleep is when the monitor is on full brightness and the lid is closed this does cause a little more heat to build up as when the lid is closed you also have the air intake restricted, so try not to be running something that will devour cpu usage.

Ive got myself a 2009 pro, and its probably been on 24/7 roughly 85% of its life and ive only had to open it up twice to remove dust from the fans inside. Ive also replaced my hdd with a seagate hybrid 500gb.

No issues at all so far, the only other thing ive got to tweak my mac is a fan control program like smc fan control
 
blky said:
personally i use insomniax, the only thing that you need to be weary of when using these programs that prevent dimming of screen and going to sleep is when the monitor is on full brightness and the lid is closed this does cause a little more heat to build up as when the lid is closed you also have the air intake restricted, so try not to be running something that will devour cpu usage.

Ive got myself a 2009 pro, and its probably been on 24/7 roughly 85% of its life and ive only had to open it up twice to remove dust from the fans inside. Ive also replaced my hdd with a seagate hybrid 500gb.

No issues at all so far, the only other thing ive got to tweak my mac is a fan control program like smc fan control
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Where is the air intake port? I was just going to turn the brightness all the way down to be honest.

jkkc313 said:
only concern i foresee is that it may kill the battery prematurely
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Hmm, won't it run purely off the mains when the battery is fully charged?
 
Does not really need to be left on all the time? Especially if it is just basic web tasks? I never shut mine down, however, when Im not using it, I close the screen. When I want it again, it takes maybe 2 seconds to boot up from opening the screen, hardly a pain. Also, if I want it to stay on overnight if I am downloading anything, I just turn the screen brightness down to nothing and that seems to do the job.
 
MilanoChris said:
Hmm, won't it run purely off the mains when the battery is fully charged?
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Most laptops run from the battery all the time and the charger constantly keeps it charged.. This WILL kill the battery if done for a long time. I ran an HP laptop 24/7 for 6 months and the battery was goosed.

You can't do it with a MBP, but for any other laptop, the best thing to do if it's running 24/7 is to take the battery out all together, the laptop will then run from mains power no problem (and draw a lot less power so saves your electricity bills)
 
Detroit_Waves said:
Does not really need to be left on all the time?
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Yes.

Si. said:
Most laptops run from the battery all the time and the charger constantly keeps it charged.. This WILL kill the battery if done for a long time. I ran an HP laptop 24/7 for 6 months and the battery was goosed.

You can't do it with a MBP, but for any other laptop, the best thing to do if it's running 24/7 is to take the battery out all together, the laptop will then run from mains power no problem (and draw a lot less power so saves your electricity bills)
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My old Dell 15z switched to AC power only when the battery was full.
 
I've found my Mac starts slowing down a bit if it's been on more than a few days. Moving between desktops starts getting stuttery (this is w/8GB RAM) and stuff like that.
 
Are there any specific clauses in the Apple Care about batteries?

EDIT:

Answered my own question:

Notebook Owners
Your one-year warranty includes replacement coverage for a defective battery. You can extend your replacement coverage for a defective battery to three years from the date of your notebook purchase with the AppleCare Protection Plan. However, the AppleCare Protection Plan for notebook computers does not cover batteries that have failed or are exhibiting diminished capacity except when the failure or diminished capacity is the result of a manufacturing defect. Apple offers a battery replacement service for all MacBook, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro notebooks with built-in batteries. You can purchase replacement batteries for late models of Apple notebooks directly from the Apple Store.
 
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After about 300 cycles they are unlikely to replace in my experience. That said I had a battery that had near 800 cycles over 3 years, lasted about half an hour when I replaced it. Bought one off Amazon for £40 that lasts 4 hours.
 
On the older models, like the PowerBook, you could remove the battery and just run from the mains. Can't really do that anymore with new models.
 
I you do need a machine that is going to be on 24/7, then you obvious aren't just using it for some 'basic web tasks', therefore its hard to advise without all the information!
 
Agree with previous posters as regards the battery. I killed a battery in my 2006 MBP in 4 months by leaving it on. Both fans also failed within 3 years and had to be replaced as they run constantly at a low level.

I bought a Mac mini for my 24/7 machine and haven't looked back. It's damn near silent and ticks over at under 20W according to the plug in meter thingy.
 
Faustus said:
I'm still wondering why it needs to be on 24/7 in the first place?
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Maybe he's uploading large files to a cloud service such as box.net?

I've left my old MacBook on for a few days, the battery was fine. As long as the batteries stay cool you'll be fine :)
 
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