When to Lock, Put To Sleep, or Shut Down Your Mac and Why

And one thing that makes the Mac stand out is that you don’t need to turn it off every single day after you’re done using it. However, that might make you wonder: Is it okay to just put it to sleep every day? Or should you at least turn it off every once in a while?

As you probably already know, you can lock your Mac, turn it off, or put it to sleep whenever you want, but how often should you do these things? Keep reading to find out.

When Should You Lock Your Mac?

When it comes to locking your Mac, you can do that whenever you need it, really. Locking your Mac won’t help it or harm it. It just locks it.

The biggest reason to lock your Mac is to keep your files and data safe. If you work in an office or you’re in a public place, it’s best to just lock your Mac whenever you need to leave it behind.

Fortunately, locking your Mac is extremely easy. If you have a MacBook, you can just close it, or you can press Control + Command + Q, and your Mac will get locked. You can even set up a hot corner shortcut to lock your Mac just by dragging your mouse to the corner of your screen.

When Should You Put Your Mac to Sleep?

Putting your Mac to sleep is probably what you do most often. When you put your Mac to sleep, all the apps and processes go into low-power mode to help preserve the battery. 

The parts of your Mac that can be shut down are shut down, and the rest is kept in your Mac’s memory so it’s ready when you want to use your Mac again. If you’re using an Apple silicon Mac, background processes will also continue running to do things like fetch email and run Time Machine backups (if you leave it plugged into a power adapter).

Believe it or not, putting your Mac to sleep is the recommended way to go most of the time, and most experts suggest that turning your Mac off entirely every day might damage it in the long run. This is because your Mac is capable enough of staying “asleep” for a day or two without any issues, so it’s ready when you need it.

So, if you’re someone who works on their Mac every day or every other day, it’s recommended that you just put it to sleep instead of turning it off every night. 

Of course, it’s worth mentioning that if you have a MacBook and you put it to sleep, it will still consume battery life, albeit it’ll be just a small fraction. 

Still, if you have a really low battery before putting your MacBook to sleep, you might need to charge it before waking it up.

When Should You Turn Off Your Mac?

If putting your Mac to sleep mode is recommended for the most part, when should you turn it off?

Well, it really depends on how often you use your Mac. If you’re someone who only uses their Mac once per week, then you should totally turn it off after you’re done using it.

You should only put it to sleep if you’re constantly using your Mac. Otherwise, turning it off is the way to go.

Likewise, even if you use your Mac every day, you should turn it off or restart it at least once a week. This is because if you constantly put your Mac to sleep and don’t restart it, you might start to see performance issues.

Turning your Mac off and back on will fix most performance issues and will give your RAM a fresh start. So, even if you’re a power user, consider turning your Mac off or rebooting it at least once during the week.

Last but not least, if you have a MacBook and plan on not using your Mac for a longer period of time — for instance, a month — it’s recommended that you turn it off and leave it charged to around the 50% mark. This will prevent the battery from aging too quickly.

Keep Your Mac in Tip Top Shape

Your Mac is a powerful machine that can and should be put to sleep most of the time. However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t ever turn it off. 

To avoid performance issues, be sure to turn it off at least once every week. If you can’t or don’t want to do that, you should try to restart it once a week so it doesn’t have any issues in the long run.