34 ms·

My MBP is already 'instant-on'. Open the case and one second later it's awake and ready to go. I'll never understand why people feel the need to shut down their

by gamble 16y ago

My MBP is already 'instant-on'. Open the case and one second later it's awake and ready to go. I'll never understand why people feel the need to shut down their computer after every use.

lsb 16y ago
Lots of people are newcomers to the Mac. Windows uptimes (edit: especially in the workplace) are usually measured in hours. Unix uptimes are usually measured in months. Also: you see the screen go dark, versus wait for the throbber after you close your machine, and people choose the finality.
- riffraff 16y ago
  no, they are not (uptimes measured in hours), on windows laptops hibernation has been working fine in windows for a few years. I don't know of any unix different from osx for which the same applies. Servers and desktop are not really the point of discussion here.
mechanical_fish 16y ago
If I remember correctly, Jobs said this thing had thirty days of standby time. My MBP does not feature instant-on after twenty days.
- brk 16y ago
  An honest question... How many people go days without using their computer these days? I'm one who never turns my MBP off. There are a few times I can think of when it hasn't been used at least once/day, even on vacation. It seems like if you are the kind of person who needs/appreciates instant on, it's because you make regular use of your machine. This would seem to counter the need to have it sleep for a month. If you can go that long between regular uses, you can probably wait an extra 3 minutes for bootup.
  - nuclear_eclipse 16y ago
    My laptop isn't my main computer, so there are quite a few times where I would leave it in standby/sleep mode for even a week at a time before I notice it blinking it's orange LED to remind me to plug it back in...
  - dagw 16y ago
    An 11" Air would not be my main computer, and as such I wouldn't necessarily be using it every day. I can easily see it sitting unused for days at a time while I use some of my other computers. But when I do want it I'll still really appreciate having it not being dead because it sat in my briefcase for a week.
  - mechanical_fish 16y ago
    If you're not a professional coder or writer -- or if you use a different, "work" computer for that -- and/or you've got an iPad and an iPhone, going for days without using your machine is not a farfetched scenario. But, beyond that: I might use my computer every few days and yet not want to have to plug it in every few days.
  - Timothee 16y ago
    I would think that the point is that it's virtually losing no battery time while in sleep mode. So, if you have 5 hours of battery life fully charged when you leave the house, that really means 5 hours of the computer on, even if you use it 2 hours in the morning, let it sleep the whole day, and use it 3 hours at night. I also never turn my MacBook off, and can use it during my commute both ways without having to charge it at work. But I'm pretty sure that tonight it will have visibly less capacity than when I finished this morning. Sometimes, it also dies while sleeping. It sound that it wouldn't happen as much with the Air. Overall, I already feel that my MacBook is instant-on; this is icing on the cake.
  - petercooper 16y ago
    We've accidentally killed two MacBook batteries after going on vacation for a week. We now make sure to shut machines down before going, but it can be a bit of an expensive mistake if you just close the lid in the usual way.
siglesias 16y ago
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but this is what Steve is referring to. 30 days of standby effectively makes awake from sleep the same as on, whereas before you had a fast drain during even sleep.
- borism 16y ago
  I wouldn't call several days or almost a week of standby with a healthy battery a "fast drain". Nobody on HN leaves their computer sleeping for more than few hours anyway, right?
- gamble 16y ago
  The '30 days of standby' figure assumes that you let your Air go into hibernation, which has been supported by MacBooks for a long time, but only as a last resort when the battery gets low. The Air is apparently just more aggressive about using hibernation. The underlying power management architecture (top-notch, admittedly) hasn't changed at all. Hibernation isn't any faster to restore than other MacBooks with a SSD. They've just made wake-from-sleep slightly faster on the new Air. Nice to have, but it doesn't seem as significant to me as Steve made it sound.
  - ericd 16y ago
    Are you sure about this? Hibernation generally refers to writing the contents of RAM to disk so that the computer can power off completely, if I'm not mistaken.
    - gamble 16y ago
      That's what Engadget is saying is necessary to hit the 30 days. It's still early and no one has had time to do a thorough review, but I don't get the impression that there's anything fundamentally different about the new Air's power management. They've just tightened up the response time and made the SSD standard, so hibernation is much faster.
deleted 16y ago
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jonhendry 16y ago
Yeah, this feature seems like a non-event to me. It might be marginally faster.
zhyder 16y ago
Apparently standby lasts 30 days for the 13.3" model. Currently my MBP burns through the battery in standby within 1-2 days. With a 30-day standby time, I'd worry a lot less about having it plugged in all the time. http://www.engadget.com/photos/apples-new-macbook-air/#3488674 http://www.engadget.com/photos/apples-new-macbook-air/#34886...
KingOfB 16y ago
any one else notice that the standby time on the Macbooks is substantially better than the pro's? I actually wish I had my old macbook just due to this reason. I could leave it on standby for a day or two and come back with a minimal drain on battery life.

by gamble 16y ago

My MBP is already 'instant-on'. Open the case and one second later it's awake and ready to go. I'll never understand why people feel the need to shut down their computer after every use.

lsb 16y ago

Lots of people are newcomers to the Mac. Windows uptimes (edit: especially in the workplace) are usually measured in hours. Unix uptimes are usually measured in months. Also: you see the screen go dark, versus wait for the throbber after you close your machine, and people choose the finality.

riffraff 16y ago
no, they are not (uptimes measured in hours), on windows laptops hibernation has been working fine in windows for a few years. I don't know of any unix different from osx for which the same applies. Servers and desktop are not really the point of discussion here.

mechanical_fish 16y ago

If I remember correctly, Jobs said this thing had thirty days of standby time. My MBP does not feature instant-on after twenty days.

brk 16y ago
An honest question... How many people go days without using their computer these days? I'm one who never turns my MBP off. There are a few times I can think of when it hasn't been used at least once/day, even on vacation. It seems like if you are the kind of person who needs/appreciates instant on, it's because you make regular use of your machine. This would seem to counter the need to have it sleep for a month. If you can go that long between regular uses, you can probably wait an extra 3 minutes for bootup.
- nuclear_eclipse 16y ago
  My laptop isn't my main computer, so there are quite a few times where I would leave it in standby/sleep mode for even a week at a time before I notice it blinking it's orange LED to remind me to plug it back in...
- dagw 16y ago
  An 11" Air would not be my main computer, and as such I wouldn't necessarily be using it every day. I can easily see it sitting unused for days at a time while I use some of my other computers. But when I do want it I'll still really appreciate having it not being dead because it sat in my briefcase for a week.
- mechanical_fish 16y ago
  If you're not a professional coder or writer -- or if you use a different, "work" computer for that -- and/or you've got an iPad and an iPhone, going for days without using your machine is not a farfetched scenario. But, beyond that: I might use my computer every few days and yet not want to have to plug it in every few days.
- Timothee 16y ago
  I would think that the point is that it's virtually losing no battery time while in sleep mode. So, if you have 5 hours of battery life fully charged when you leave the house, that really means 5 hours of the computer on, even if you use it 2 hours in the morning, let it sleep the whole day, and use it 3 hours at night. I also never turn my MacBook off, and can use it during my commute both ways without having to charge it at work. But I'm pretty sure that tonight it will have visibly less capacity than when I finished this morning. Sometimes, it also dies while sleeping. It sound that it wouldn't happen as much with the Air. Overall, I already feel that my MacBook is instant-on; this is icing on the cake.
- petercooper 16y ago
  We've accidentally killed two MacBook batteries after going on vacation for a week. We now make sure to shut machines down before going, but it can be a bit of an expensive mistake if you just close the lid in the usual way.

siglesias 16y ago

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but this is what Steve is referring to. 30 days of standby effectively makes awake from sleep the same as on, whereas before you had a fast drain during even sleep.

borism 16y ago
I wouldn't call several days or almost a week of standby with a healthy battery a "fast drain". Nobody on HN leaves their computer sleeping for more than few hours anyway, right?
gamble 16y ago
The '30 days of standby' figure assumes that you let your Air go into hibernation, which has been supported by MacBooks for a long time, but only as a last resort when the battery gets low. The Air is apparently just more aggressive about using hibernation. The underlying power management architecture (top-notch, admittedly) hasn't changed at all. Hibernation isn't any faster to restore than other MacBooks with a SSD. They've just made wake-from-sleep slightly faster on the new Air. Nice to have, but it doesn't seem as significant to me as Steve made it sound.
- ericd 16y ago
  Are you sure about this? Hibernation generally refers to writing the contents of RAM to disk so that the computer can power off completely, if I'm not mistaken.
  - gamble 16y ago
    That's what Engadget is saying is necessary to hit the 30 days. It's still early and no one has had time to do a thorough review, but I don't get the impression that there's anything fundamentally different about the new Air's power management. They've just tightened up the response time and made the SSD standard, so hibernation is much faster.

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

jonhendry 16y ago

Yeah, this feature seems like a non-event to me. It might be marginally faster.

zhyder 16y ago

Apparently standby lasts 30 days for the 13.3" model. Currently my MBP burns through the battery in standby within 1-2 days. With a 30-day standby time, I'd worry a lot less about having it plugged in all the time. http://www.engadget.com/photos/apples-new-macbook-air/#3488674 http://www.engadget.com/photos/apples-new-macbook-air/#34886...

KingOfB 16y ago

any one else notice that the standby time on the Macbooks is substantially better than the pro's? I actually wish I had my old macbook just due to this reason. I could leave it on standby for a day or two and come back with a minimal drain on battery life.