mbp Is it OK to keep MacBook Pro Running 24x7 ?

[123456789A]

The computer is designed to run at full CPU usage all the time, if it fails under those circumstances at least over here the manufacturer/seller is required to extend the warranty and no EULA/crying will help them.

Well that's good to know. I wish we had nice consumer protections like you guys.

[Dick Montage]

Sucks if you have a power outage for a second (or more) and have some unsaved work on your laptop then.

Kinda like a desktop then!?

[123456789A]

Kinda like a desktop then!?

Get a UPS!

[Kami-]

Well that's good to know. I wish we had nice consumer protections like you guys.

You don't want his ~25% sales tax though do you ;)

[cooky560 Veteran]

You don't want his ~25% sales tax though do you ;)

Already at 20% so 25% can't be too far off :|

[neo1911]

Just an update.

Today my MBP just randomly shut down while it got too hot on top left corner.

I opened the back and was shocked to see the accumulation of dust inside the fan grlls. I got all of that cleaned. But now since last few weeks, the superdrive is ejecting any DVDs or CDs I put in in 2-3 seconds.

After about 20 or so tries, the DVD gets accepted.

[HawkMan]

I never had battery degrading issues in any of my laptops running them off mains all the time. Battery or power consumption is not the issue. It is whether the life of the whole mbp is affected or not.

That's because all the battery tips the other people are giving about fully cycling the battery regularly and taking it out when using it regularly is for old NiCd and NiMh batteries. The Lithium batteries in laptops tpday don't need to be cycled, in fact they should never be run completely flat, and the only thing that wears them out is how many times you cycle them (they have a limited amount of cycles before degrading) and time (the chemical reaction in them gets worse over time). So don't worry about taking out the battery, unless it's a very hot laptop. And don't cycle the battery regularly just to do it, that just unnecessarily uses up one cycle of the batteries lifetime.

[Miuku.]

Except Apple themselves suggest a complete discharge every now and then to properly recalibrate the battery (more to do with the on board sensors than the li-ion itself but nevertheless, it's not a useless thing to do).

[Xtreme $niper]

Today my MBP just randomly shut down while it got too hot on top left corner.

I opened the back and was shocked to see the accumulation of dust inside the fan grlls.

I would recommend regularly opening the laptop up from the back plate and cleaning up the fan and plate of any dust accumulation. Doesn't void any warranties and keeps things nice and clean. Maybe once every few months depending on how dusty your regular environment is.

I'd say if you can actually hear your fans spinning when your computer is idle, you've got too much dust. MBP fans should be idling at around 2000 rpm or slightly less, and at those speeds you can't hear them in a normal enviornment. My HDD spins louder than my fans do most of the time.

[n_K]

If it ejects the disc for 20 times it's possibly the laser almost dead.

Heat building up will greatly reduce the laser's lifespan.

[Kelxin]

The best advice on the battery, is if he never has it unpulgged, just take the battery out period and put it in a drawer. It doesn't hurt the machine to run without a battery as long as you don't accidentally unplug the machine.

[neo1911]

I tried to clean the optical drive with cloth, cleaning cd and what not. It is just getting progressively worse. Now it won't burn any new DVDs. Even if it accepts a DVD after several tries, it rejects them midway while watching a movie.

Googled up and Apple support forum has lengthy discussions about these Slot loading drives and their high failure rates.

Just wondering if my keeping the laptop running 24x7 for 1.5 years was the reason for early failure of the drive.

[n_K]

Just wondering if my keeping the laptop running 24x7 for 1.5 years was the reason for early failure of the drive.

Most probably yes, heat building = less laser life

[Kelxin]

Also, while the computer is running, optical drives regularly do an optical check to confirm that there is no disk in the drive, or if you leave a disk in the drive, it will do a calibration check to make sure it can read the disk. On a side note, don't use any fabric item to clean an optical drive. Use a can of air or one of the cleaning pads that have the correct solution and material to clean the optics.

[xendrome]

Discharge the battery completely (run on battery, let it run until it powers down just before it goes flat, then leave off for 5 hours) then charge it back up and see if Coco still reports 97%

You are going to kill a Lithium Ion battery pretty fast doing this... so don't do it.

[xendrome]

If you shut it down, you will cause more power use, so this will mean more electricity usage, so higher bills, plus more wear-n-tear on components.

Did you mean to say "If you don't shut it down" ?

[HawkMan]

Except Apple themselves suggest a complete discharge every now and then to properly recalibrate the battery (more to do with the on board sensors than the li-ion itself but nevertheless, it's not a useless thing to do).

Has nothing to do with the actual life of the battery though. Calibrating isn't about the battery, it's about the on lard sensors testing the battery and checking roughly how much life is left and updating the internal sensor data with more real data and not just predictions from last.

It does nothing except make the estimated time left on your battery power more accurate. Well except using up one cycle.

[einsteinbqat]

My iMac is running 24/7, and I never noticed any problem. And I restart only when Apple Update forces me to so. I did the same with my previous PowerBook G4, and it survived 8 years and is actually still functioning if I wanted to use it.

I suppose that running your MBPS 24/7 should fine. It's up to you, I guess.

[Shadrack]

My MacBook Pro mid-2009 runs 24/7 and I don't have any problems with it.

I maybe take it off the charger once a month to let the battery go down and back up. Not sure if it does jack-**** but its my habit. I would think that if the MBP were running "warm" 24/7 that might damage/ware out components faster. Just make sure it can breath.

If the battery life starts to suck, it is an easy to replace part. Apple sells the replacement for $179 which is a bit much..some web searching shows that cheaper prices exist.

[Stetson]

The best advice on the battery, is if he never has it unpulgged, just take the battery out period and put it in a drawer. It doesn't hurt the machine to run without a battery as long as you don't accidentally unplug the machine.

I believe with some models of Macbook Pro that removing the battery will throttle back the processor since the charger can't supply the absolute max power that the machine can consume fully loaded.

I would recommend as others have said to leave the battery in but to let it run down periodically. I've done mostly that with my 2008 aluminum Macbook and it's still over 90% battery health (and it's from before the newer 1000 cycle rated batteries).