[atomicbartbeans]

Your current uptime is super-easy to check... just start Terminal, type "uptime", and press enter.

I am on what I believe is my longest uptime ever... 16 days, 15 hours, 42 minutes. Do others typically leave their computer on for this long (even longer)?

(Dedicated) servers don't count.

[SKMDC]

iPulse can tell you as well. plus it looks cool.

[beardedmacuser]

My work Mac runs 24/7 but it never gets much more than a month runtime before Apple releases an update that requires a restart.

My backup Samba server (also a Mac) at work is a different story, but as you said servers don't count...

And my Mac at home gets shutdown every night (unless it's on a particularly large Bittorrent! ).

[Mikester]

I shut down my Mac (iBook) every day. Is that bad?

[SKMDC]

Originally Posted by Mikester I shut down my Mac (iBook) every day. Is that bad?

I don't think it's bad but it's not necessary. When booting up was endless I would've said it's a pain in the ass, but now it starts up so quickly (relatively) that's really not an issue.

[SledgeHammer]

I use the Showoff Widget to keep track of uptime. My longest since I started using it this summer is 16 days, 10 hours, 53 minutes. I almost never shutdown my PB unless there is an update that requires it.

[BlueRabbit]

Right now I'm at almost 11 days, because of 10.4.3. However, my record from last summer is over 70 days.

[Luca]

I think my longest Windows uptime actually exceeds my longest Mac uptime, and that's not for a dedicated server either. Either way, they're both probably around the 2-3 week mark. Right now my uptime sucks (14 hours) as OS X hates it when it tries to access data on a drive that has been disconnected. Apparently it can't JUST FUCKING STOP TRYING TO ACCESS IT.

FTFF Apple!

[kretara]

I had a Linux (RH 6.2) gileserver (at home -- not a work server) up for over 200 days and the only reason that it "went down" was because of a power outage. I currently have an Ubuntu box that has been up for 67 days.

My longest Mac uptime was actually done on an old B&W 400 running 8.6. I got 40 days out of it before I needed to restart. All my coworkers were amazed that anyone could keep OS 8 or 9 up for that long. My longest OS X uptime is 36 days. The only reason that I restart OS X is for software updates.

My longest windows uptime is around 14 days (xp pro) and that is only because I never use the XP box I have at work. Still, after just sitting on my desk and doing nothing it still needs to be restarted every other week because it gets sluggish.

[SKMDC]

Mine was 63 days, but mostly because I was gone. (30 days of it anyway) When I got back their was an update that required a restart and I thought to look, otherwise I'd never have bothered.

[Koodari]

There is no option for "don't know" on the poll. That's the situation with me. Absolutely no idea how long my best uptime is.

My mom might actually have a better uptime record than I do, because only time she boots is when there's a major OS X update in Software Update. I occasionally install and tweak things that need a reboot. Last time I rebooted was because of this.

And what's that about Windows in the poll? I actually have a friend who has had up to ~50 days uptime on Windows 95 (that's how long it takes for the system time counter to overflow) and ~80 days uptime in Windows 98.

[Wyatt]

I only have my machines on when necessary (to save electricity). Actually, my PC desktop, which I'm selling next week, hasn't even been plugged in for almost two months.

I have had months of uptime on Windows machines. On my Mac, I don't think I've had it on for more than four or five days, but I only turn it off to save power. I use my laptop (Fedora, 1.3 GHz Celeron D) more than anything, but I leave it off most of the time too (for some reason Fedora can't suspend my laptop, so if I leave it on the battery dies--even with it closed).

[torifile]

Originally Posted by Mikester I shut down my Mac (iBook) every day. Is that bad?

Not bad, but completely stupid unnecessary. What is the advantage?

My eMac at work has been shutdown *maybe* twice in over a year of service. It only gets restarted with a system update.

[AndyX-]

Not bad, but completely stupid unnecessary. What is the advantage?

Maybe you didn't know that there are environmental consequences to using electricity? Do you leave your car running overnight? No - of course you don't! Every time you turn your computer on, you create a little pollution so saving electricity doesn't just put money in your pocket (or your boss's pocket in your case), it helps keep the air and water clean, too.

What's the advantage of leaving your computer on other than for system maintenance tasks anyway? If it's just for that then use MacJanitor. There are also advantages in shutting it down - if I'm use Photoshop all day, I can normally clear between 3Gb and 4Gb of space just by restarting....

[gsxrboy]

I sleep my powerbook (most 70+ days) and the server (most 150+ days) never shuts down either. The only time they restart is from system updates or apps that require one etc..

[chucker]

Originally Posted by AndyX- Every time you turn your computer on, you create a little pollution

Exactly. Emphasis on "turn on". The startup process requires a lot of disk and CPU usage and thus a lot of electricity. In many cases, it is much more energy-saving to put the machine to stand-by over night than to turn it off and back on.

[revolution]

Originally Posted by chucker Exactly. Emphasis on "turn on". The startup process requires a lot of disk and CPU usage and thus a lot of electricity. In many cases, it is much more energy-saving to put the machine to stand-by over night than to turn it off and back on.

Something I was just about to say, and have used many a time to defend the fact I leave it turned on all the time.

I have no idea about longest uptime, probs a week or so.

[Luca]

And we've had this discussion before in the past. Some people got really indignant about power usage, but computers use a tiny, tiny amount of power. Even big desktops don't use much power. You don't save much power by turning off your computer, and like others have said, you use a lot more power by turning it off and on constantly than you do by just leaving it on and letting it go to sleep when you're not using it.

[Brad]

Originally Posted by AndyX- Maybe you didn't know that there are environmental consequences to using electricity?

Do you unplug your TV and VCR/DVR at night?
Disconnect your phones and slide the battery off your cell when you're not placing a call?
Remove the batteries from your watch and clocks when you're not using them?
Do you even know how much power these devices consume regularly?

"No - of course you don't!"

[SpecMode]

I let my 'Book sleep when I'm not using it, meself...I've probably gotten close to 2 months uptime during this last deployment (not being able to download updates for two to three months at a stretch kinda sucks, but then again, not having to restart for nearly that long is kinda cool, too), but every once in a while I'd shut down entirely just to be on the safe side (old Windows habit kicking in, as my Toshiba laptop never takes well to sleep mode).

OT: One of a very few advantages gained from being out to sea for six months: not having to worry about the electric bill! (having a 'portable' 32MW of electrical generating capacity comes in handy sometimes...)

[torifile]

Originally Posted by AndyX- Maybe you didn't know that there are environmental consequences to using electricity? Do you leave your car running overnight? No - of course you don't! Every time you turn your computer on, you create a little pollution so saving electricity doesn't just put money in your pocket (or your boss's pocket in your case), it helps keep the air and water clean, too. What's the advantage of leaving your computer on other than for system maintenance tasks anyway? If it's just for that then use MacJanitor. There are also advantages in shutting it down - if I'm use Photoshop all day, I can normally clear between 3Gb and 4Gb of space just by restarting....

Ever heard of *sleep*? I don't leave my computer "on" all night. I just don't shut it down. If it makes you feel better, I rarely use my powerbook plugged in. I have a battery for that.

[Koodari]

Originally Posted by AndyX- Maybe you didn't know that there are environmental consequences to using electricity? Do you leave your car running overnight? No - of course you don't! Every time you turn your computer on, you create a little pollution so saving electricity doesn't just put money in your pocket (or your boss's pocket in your case), it helps keep the air and water clean, too. What's the advantage of leaving your computer on other than for system maintenance tasks anyway? If it's just for that then use MacJanitor. There are also advantages in shutting it down - if I'm use Photoshop all day, I can normally clear between 3Gb and 4Gb of space just by restarting....

Let me guess, you live someplace really warm? Because if your house was heated even a little bit on thermostat control, it wouldn't matter how much electricity your gear takes.

[staph]

On several eMacs I run at work, the best uptimes (approximately) were something like 180 days, 162 days, and 160 days. In every case they went down for a system update. So far as I'm aware, none of the three computers have ever had a kernel panic.

They're actually a pretty good advertisement for eMacs. Old tech surely, but very very stable.

[Powerdoc]

I turn off my computer every day.

[tekmoe]

longest uptime i've had that i can remember was 29 days on my 12" powerbook. then i had to run an update that forced a restart.

[Res]

I had over two months uptime on my powerbook a while back. Nowadays it seems like we get an update that requires a restart every few weeks.

[julesstoop]

My desktop Mac has once made it to 171 days (!) at that moment I thought: time has come to install some updates.

[Jerman]

Let's see... My longest time was from August 19th 2005 to this Sunday, November 7th 2005. Not sure of the times as I wiped the drive. So I guess it was 80 days. Exciting!

[T-Man]

About a week. I think I've made it longer on my old VAIO as I HATED to restart it since it took forever to load evereything, and was slow before or after restart, so I just left it on. I like to restart my PowerBook. So elegant when starting up. Too bad the dong doesnt play with all my surround sounds speakers...

[Mac+]

Can't recall my longest uptime, but lately I have been averaging a few days.

However, in defense of turning off/restarting, I have found that with only 512MB of RAM and a small amount of available HD space (<2GB) page outs have been a problem. A fresh start really helps clear things up and the system is *much* more responsive - such a joy to use for the first few days at least.