Why Sleep (Was PL Upgrade)

[Tom Spielman]

On Thursday, January 16, 2003, at 03:58 AM, Cube List wrote:

> Date: Wed, 15 Jan 2003 21:44:01 -0800
> Subject: Re: [CUBE] PL upgrade (Was: Feedback from GigaDesigns!)
> From: a l a n t h o m p s o n <athomp2 at mac.com>
> Message-Id: <83B6E621-2915-11D7-A809-003065B33A42 at mac.com>
>
> can the folks on the list that utilize the sleep functionality tell me
> why using sleep is critical for them?
>

Keeping your computer on all the time uses more juice than you probably 
realize.  I have a tiny computer (also cube shaped) that I use to serve 
my website. It uses the same processor as what was in the Newton and 
many Pocket PCs. It stays on 24 X 7. In the next couple of months I'll 
have it running on a battery charged via solar panel. It uses a 
fraction of the power that a G4 does yet keeping it running for a week 
takes more energy than it does to run my electric lawn mower.

I understand somebody not wanting to shut their computer down and have 
to go through the entire boot process just to see if they've got any 
e-mail but I have trouble understanding why anyone wouldn't want their 
computer to go to sleep when it's not doing anything and won't be for 
some time.

Leaving a computer on 24 X 7 is a complete waste of energy unless it's 
actually doing something besides keeping a column of air above your 
desk warm.


> i'm *not* at all judging the use of those who use the sleep function -
> i just really don't understand it, or rather, using it on desktop
> machines.  now, on my ibook?  use it several times a day.  works
> flawlessly.  if it didn't, i'd be very annoyed.  but from my point of
> view, using sleep on a desktop is not critical or convenient as it
> might be for a laptop.

No it's not as critical, but if Apple has got to make it work for a 
laptop, they might as well have it function properly on desktops.



>
> my cube stays on 24x7 aside from silly apple updates that require it to
> reboot (quicktime 6.1 required a restart!).  another point of reference
> - gf2mx, small heatsink, no fan.
>
> --alan