Do Macbook users where you work....

[Jackknifed_Juggernaut]

…constantly awkwardly walk around with the computer lid half open?

I have a Macbook at home and assume it’s because the machine will sleep if the lid is completely closed. But isn’t it a fairly simple process to type in the password once opened? So why do they do it, and is there a better way?

[andrewm]

For one thing, putting a machine to sleep (regardless of OS) can kill any active network connections. Browsers and other apps have gotten better about resuming after such interruptions, but if you’re in the middle of something important it can be better to just not risk it.

Also, never underestimate laziness. If you want to show someone something on your screen it’s slightly easier to carry it over and be able to simply point - vs. having to sit it down somewhere, type your password, then point.

[Horatio_Hellpop]

I do that for a really long download. Life and work go on, but I want my TV shows ASAP.

[Jackknifed_Juggernaut]

@andrewm

For one thing, putting a machine to sleep (regardless of OS) can kill any active network connections. Browsers and other apps have gotten better about resuming after such interruptions, but if you’re in the middle of something important it can be better to just not risk it…

Maybe there should be a button that keeps everything running.

[corkboard]

We don’t have MacBooks here- all Windows machines- and plenty of people to the same thing.

[BigT]

@corkboard

We don’t have MacBooks here- all Windows machines- and plenty of people to the same thing.

I assumed that Macs just didn’t have a way to disable this feature. Windows machines definitely do, built into the OS. I always shut it off with any computer I get.

Unless they are locked from making that change. Then I get it.

[Nava]

Where I work, it’s Dell users.

1. Company laptops are Dells.
2. They are loaded with so much corporate nannyware and other shit that they take forever to open.
3. Three forevers, because first it takes forever to ask for the username and password for the first time… then it takes forever to ask for it for the second time… and then it takes forever to ask for it for the third time. We are hereby defining “forever” as “more time than it takes the coffee machine to produce a drink”. You have to enter the double password even if you’ve actually told the system to “hybernate”; the times are somewhat shorter coming from hybernation than for a full boot but it’s still a pain.
4. Also, and don’t ask me why exactly this happens (all I know is that our local IT guy, who’s supernice, starts smoking from the ears when it comes up), our laptops don’t do well at reconnecting to the local networks after coming out of hybernation.

So yeah, a lot of people walk around with their arm inside their laptop to keep it from going to sleep.

[Askance]

@corkboard

We don’t have MacBooks here- all Windows machines- and plenty of people to the same thing.

I call it “Managers Walking with Laptops”; they all have the same awkward arm-crook holding it just so. Three of those coming down the corridor is hilarious, it’s like a chorus line.

[DCnDC]

@Jackknifed_Juggernaut

I have a Macbook at home and assume it’s because the machine will sleep if the lid is completely closed. But isn’t it a fairly simple process to type in the password once opened? So why do they do it, and is there a better way?

There’s a free app called “NoSleep” that will prevent your Macbook from going to sleep when the lid is closed. You can choose if you want this to happen when plugged in, or on battery, or both.

[jz78817]

I haven’t encountered any MacBook users at work. We’re all issued Dell bricks which are heavy as shit and have crappy screens, but boy are they rugged. By default they sleep when the lid is closed, but we have hardware devices (like CANBus interfaces) which don’t like working after a sleep. so yeah, I see people carrying laptops with partly-open lids.

[Anita_Dayoff]

If you have a rotational drive. Moving a laptop around other than in a strictly vertical or horizontal plane is begging to trash the drive. The head to platter tolerances are so tiny that its possible to crash the heads into the platter(s) while moving it. Apple specifically recommends against it: Apple Portables: Wait for pulsing sleep indicator light before moving system

[control-z]

@Anita_Dayoff

If you have a rotational drive. Moving a laptop around other than in a strictly vertical or horizontal plane is begging to trash the drive. The head to platter tolerances are so tiny that its possible to crash the heads into the platter(s) while moving it. Apple specifically recommends against it: http://support.apple.com/kb/TA25026?viewlocale=en_US

In my experience I think this danger is overstated. I used to have a MP3 player in my car that used a regular 5 1/4" desktop hard drive (bigger platters, bigger arms) and drove around for years with the same hard drive working fine. Laptop hard drives are designed to be moved around.

[Ethilrist]

At IBM, they discovered a problem with closing Lenovo Thinkpads without a full shutdown: occasionally there would be an issue with the hard drive encryption (possibly conflicting with the Single Signon software they used, which could cause this all by itself), and the computer wouldn’t come back to life when you opened it up again, so it would have to be restored back to factory new with full loss of data.

Simpler just to carry it around open, or take a minute and shut it down. Oh, and, we all stopped using Single Signon.

[beowulff]

@control-z

In my experience I think this danger is overstated. I used to have a MP3 player in my car that used a regular 5 1/4" desktop hard drive (bigger platters, bigger arms) and drove around for years with the same hard drive working fine. Laptop hard drives are designed to be moved around.

Yeah, the issue isn’t moving them around, it’s the THUMP when you set the laptop on the desk. I’ve never had an issue, but it doesn’t hurt to be gentle.