4 ms·

These are fair criticisms, but I don't think anybody has this nailed. I use a mix of Windows, Mac, and Linux, and have found myself walking around with the lid

These are fair criticisms, but I don't think anybody has this nailed. I use a mix of Windows, Mac, and Linux, and have found myself walking around with the lid open in all three. Mac seems to handle what you describe better than everyone else, but it's far from perfect. I have one monitor that used to work fine on Windows and Mac. After a software update the Mac only recognizes it about 1 in 20 tries of plugging and unplugging.

ghaff 8y ago
Macs seem to be pretty good in my experience. It was something I really noticed about them when I first started using about 8 years ago. The only real monitor problem I've had was with an iMac that decided it didn't want to initialize the dual displays properly if the 2nd was plugged in when it was booted. Took me about a day to figure I needed to unplug the 2nd display. Eventually some OS update fixed it. Linux is a lot better than it used to be. I can reliably close the lid on my Lenovo X200 running Fedora. And anecdotally there seem to be fewer people going between meetings with laptops open these days so that's presumably a common experience with RHEL and Fedora on company-issued laptops.
- gm-conspiracy 8y ago
  My G4 iBook was amazing at suspend/resume, but each revision, it has gotten progressively worse. I am afraid of my brand new MBP w/ touchbar. I use it with the lid shut as a powerful Mac Mini. It is too fragile to move frequently.
  - chipotle_coyote 8y ago
    People in my office (including me) move around with their MBPs pretty frequently. I know saying "other than the keyboard, they seem to be pretty well built" is the tech equivalent of "other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the show," but I've never had any issue with waking up from sleep, or display issues when I disconnect the external monitor, whether or not the laptop lid is closed at the time. (I generally run with the lid closed when I'm at my desk.)
    - gm-conspiracy 8y ago
      Definitely not my experience. I usually have to open and close the lid to get the external display to work properly. It could be my monitor or usb-c to displayport adapter, though. Also, this is my 2nd current gen MBP in less than 6 months.
  - athenot 8y ago
    man pmset OK, so RTFM jokes aren't funny anymore. Specifically, what you're looking for is to change the hibernation mode. Old macos used to keep the RAM powered during sleep, so there's a slight drain on the battery, and if it runned out, well state was lossed. BUT the upshot was that wakeup was instant. As it turns out, that's the default mode on desktop. And you can set your laptop to do that too (assuming you're ok with the tradeoff). sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 0 Here's the relevant section from the man page: hibernatemode supports values of 0, 3, or 25. Whether or not a hibernation image gets written is also dependent on the values of standby and autopoweroff For example, on desktops that support standby a hibernation image will be written after the specified standbydelay time. To disable hibernation images completely, ensure hibernatemode standby and autopoweroff are all set to 0. hibernatemode = 0 by default on desktops. The system will not back memory up to persistent storage. The system must wake from the con- tents of memory; the system will lose context on power loss. This is, historically, plain old sleep. hibernatemode = 3 by default on portables. The system will store a copy of memory to persistent storage (the disk), and will power memory during sleep. The system will wake from memory, unless a power loss forces it to restore from hibernate image. hibernatemode = 25 is only settable via pmset. The system will store a copy of memory to persistent storage (the disk), and will remove power to memory. The system will restore from disk image. If you want "hibernation" - slower sleeps, slower wakes, and better battery life, you should use this setting.

ghaff 8y ago

Macs seem to be pretty good in my experience. It was something I really noticed about them when I first started using about 8 years ago. The only real monitor problem I've had was with an iMac that decided it didn't want to initialize the dual displays properly if the 2nd was plugged in when it was booted. Took me about a day to figure I needed to unplug the 2nd display. Eventually some OS update fixed it. Linux is a lot better than it used to be. I can reliably close the lid on my Lenovo X200 running Fedora. And anecdotally there seem to be fewer people going between meetings with laptops open these days so that's presumably a common experience with RHEL and Fedora on company-issued laptops.

gm-conspiracy 8y ago
My G4 iBook was amazing at suspend/resume, but each revision, it has gotten progressively worse. I am afraid of my brand new MBP w/ touchbar. I use it with the lid shut as a powerful Mac Mini. It is too fragile to move frequently.
- chipotle_coyote 8y ago
  People in my office (including me) move around with their MBPs pretty frequently. I know saying "other than the keyboard, they seem to be pretty well built" is the tech equivalent of "other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the show," but I've never had any issue with waking up from sleep, or display issues when I disconnect the external monitor, whether or not the laptop lid is closed at the time. (I generally run with the lid closed when I'm at my desk.)
  - gm-conspiracy 8y ago
    Definitely not my experience. I usually have to open and close the lid to get the external display to work properly. It could be my monitor or usb-c to displayport adapter, though. Also, this is my 2nd current gen MBP in less than 6 months.
- athenot 8y ago
  man pmset OK, so RTFM jokes aren't funny anymore. Specifically, what you're looking for is to change the hibernation mode. Old macos used to keep the RAM powered during sleep, so there's a slight drain on the battery, and if it runned out, well state was lossed. BUT the upshot was that wakeup was instant. As it turns out, that's the default mode on desktop. And you can set your laptop to do that too (assuming you're ok with the tradeoff). sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 0 Here's the relevant section from the man page: hibernatemode supports values of 0, 3, or 25. Whether or not a hibernation image gets written is also dependent on the values of standby and autopoweroff For example, on desktops that support standby a hibernation image will be written after the specified standbydelay time. To disable hibernation images completely, ensure hibernatemode standby and autopoweroff are all set to 0. hibernatemode = 0 by default on desktops. The system will not back memory up to persistent storage. The system must wake from the con- tents of memory; the system will lose context on power loss. This is, historically, plain old sleep. hibernatemode = 3 by default on portables. The system will store a copy of memory to persistent storage (the disk), and will power memory during sleep. The system will wake from memory, unless a power loss forces it to restore from hibernate image. hibernatemode = 25 is only settable via pmset. The system will store a copy of memory to persistent storage (the disk), and will remove power to memory. The system will restore from disk image. If you want "hibernation" - slower sleeps, slower wakes, and better battery life, you should use this setting.