When Should You SHUT DOWN Your Mac? (it might surprise you)

How often should you shut down or restart your Mac? Should you let it sleep instead? In this video I explore this topic in greater detail and also give my opinion on why you should NOT shut down your Mac every time you are finished using it!

Your Mac performs a number of beneficial tasks and processes while it sleeps, and if you prevent this from happening, you may find your Mac's performance may suffer. I personally very rarely shut down my own M1 MacBook Air, and I'll share with you my reasoning.

Mac accessories we've tested and recommend:

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Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
00:35 Why You Shouldn’t Shut Down Every Time
02:26 Why You Should Hibernate Instead
02:32 Hibernating/Sleep Mode Is Much Faster
02:54 Why Sleep Mode Is Good For Your Mac
04:13 Sleep Mode Uses Very Little Power
04:38 Sleep Mode is Good For Batteries
05:07 macOS Doesn't Need To Be Shut Down Often
05:26 How Often Do I Shut Down My Own Mac?

#macbook #mac #createdtech
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[izzyjay]

When your getting a mac soon so you watch every vid about them 🤪

[jonasbisang]

I haven’t shut down my mac in over 1.5 years... at some point the speakers didn’t work anymore but then I restared the mac and the they worked again lmao

[jamestdawson]

Years ago I managed all the Apple products at a private college before going on to Apple. One young lady about to graduate came to me as her laptop was running slow. I asked when was the last time she rebooted it. She replied "When you helped me when I was a freshman."

[chobhamgirl]

This was very valuable information. I’m 80 and just bought a MacBook Air after using PCs forever. I love this computer but it does require a learning experience. Thank you SO much for providing a clear and concise tutorial.

[donthaveaname]

I just like to hear the start up sound

[JOhnDoe-pijj]

I'm glad my laziness and forgetfulness contributes to my productively... Wow that somehow makes sense

[jaguarpw]

As a recent MacBook user, I appreciate this video. Thanks. I thought shutting down the laptop is the healthier option. I realize I'm wrong.

[SkyWaray]

This is actually one of the things I love about Apple computers. From my old Mac to my new one, and when I used an iMac, I rarely shut them down. And restart only when needed

[CreatedTech]

These are the products featured in this video:

[jaskamoh]

From a first time Mac user, thanks for the info.

[RWBHere]

You're dead right about Macs running routine maintenance tasks during idle periods. Leaving them turned on does no harm, unless you're worried about your electricity bill. With that in mind, I bought an iMac from Apple's Refurbishment and Clearance Store for significantly less than the usual Apple Store price, which ran almost 24/7/365 for over ten years without any serious issues apart from a little more dust inside the case. 
In that time it was turned off fully no more than a few dozen times. Intentional reboots were done only when a new OS version was installed, and on only 5 occasions when a third party app caused a problem. There were also about 3 power outages during that period. It was used for many purposes, including work, TV via a USB dongle (we never had a TV), running SDR apps, testing beta software, Virtual Machines running XP, Linux, BSD and more, plus working for several years as a multimedia server. 
It was then given to a friend who ran an unsupported version of MacOS until a few days ago.The computer will come back to me soon, and then it will be used to run Linux for a few more years. It might even outlast me!
So it has been worked hard throughout its life with no worries whatsoever. Use your Mac, and use it hard. It can take it.

[DJSelphi]

For newer macs, sure. As a DJ, I have an old 2011 MBP that I only use during gigs, so it doesn't make sense for me to leave it on sleep mode since it will go several days to a week without being used and by the time I turn it on, there's no battery power left (battery was changed a couple years ago). It's better for me to shut it down and turn it on later where I would still have 99% battery life when I start the next gig. Though in the first 5-6 years I rarely shut that thing down and it was used daily.

[gocarlogo]

When your laptop has longer sleep hours than us humans. 😩

[allanfadlansyah]

this! was one of the big question and debate for years.. I was one of the people who prefer sleep rather than shutting down since it would faster to use, yet I don't have the fact or supporting information behind it, thank you mate! And congrats you were growing so fast, deserved it!

[lapin-rouge]

Coming from only using Windows, it’s definitely an adjustment to get used to not needing to restart a computer often. I recommend a restart a day for Window machines, but see how the same benefits aren’t needed to macOS

[jaydean]

It's just so satisfying to open your MacBook and just start where you stoped without any stops

[christopheraquino]

Really appreciate how most of the facts mentioned are supported by sources / evidences, as it gives credibility to your claims. Would love to learn more about (5:00) leaving Mac plugged in 24/7 in your upcoming videos!

[christinepeace]

Thanks for this clarification! I actually let my M1 MacBook on sleep mode most of the time and I was actually scared if it will affect the battery life. Now I feel relieved to leave it to "sleep" 🙏😄

[MrAstygmatyk]

The advice is reasonable and applies as well to Win and Linux based systems. A shutdown is unnecessary unless a system reset is required because of an error. However, you should watch out for one specific scenario. As mentioned, unless a system is shutdown it will perform various maintenance tasks. Nothing special here, unless the machine is both unplugged (as recommended by this video) AND a system update is initialized. If the computer is short on battery power and unable to complete the whole update process, then the system may get ruined and become unrecoverable. If there is not enough battery power to complete other maintenance tasks, such as file re-indexing, the system will detect the situation, close all files to prevent damage to file system and only then shut down.
In other words, always make sure the battery can sustain a system update before you put it to sleep. Or turn off the automatic update in system set-up.

[darrenfoo]

Left my 2019 15" MBP plugged in and connected to an external monitor. Never have I shut it down at night and these are the consequences
- Burn in (blue marks on the retina display)
- Extremely bloated battery (the one below the bottom palm rest almost punctured)