Why power button is not on the front of Mac Studio

[ccsicecoke]

Wouldn't turning on/off the mac studio would be much easier to just press a button next to the front LED power indicator? instead of blindly reaching to the back and figuring out where the power button is among bunch of intertwined cables?

I get that design might inherited from Mac mini, but Mac mini was 1) small and can be easily flipped up to find the button; 2) Also with the small area on the back to be explored, one can easily find the power button blindly. Both of which are not the case on Mac Studio

 

[triptolemus]

Aesthetics. Function follows form.

 

[dmr727]

It's been awhile since I've owned a desktop Mac, but does anyone fully power down their machines anymore? I would think you'd simply put it to sleep and then wake it via a key press.

 

[orionquest]

Wouldn't turning on/off the mac studio would be much easier to just press a button next to the front LED power indicator? instead of blindly reaching to the back and figuring out where the power button is among bunch of intertwined cables?

I get that design might inherited from Mac mini, but Mac mini was 1) small and can be easily flipped up to find the button; 2) Also with the small area on the back to be explored, one can easily find the power button blindly. Both of which are not the case on Mac Studio

Pretty sure after you do this a couple of times you'll know where the button is...

 

[triptolemus]

It's been awhile since I've owned a desktop Mac, but does anyone fully power down their machines anymore? I would think you'd simply put it to sleep and then wake it via a key press.

I just walk away from my M1 Mini and let it go to sleep on its own. Wake with keyboard. I suspect I'd do the same with the Studio.

 

[chabig]

Wouldn't turning on/off the mac studio would be much easier to just press a button next to the front LED power indicator?

You never turn Macs off with a power button. Shutdown is a software function.

 

[DeltaMac]

You can find small, round velcro patches that can be stuck to the power button. Makes it completely easy to find the power button by feel -- even "among a bunch of intertwined cables". I have often used that same tip, or suggested that to users who had struggled finding the power button on the back of an iMac, for example.

 

[Boil]

Wouldn't turning on/off the mac studio would be much easier to just press a button next to the front LED power indicator? instead of blindly reaching to the back and figuring out where the power button is among bunch of intertwined cables?

You mean the power button all the way to the side of the back panel...?

You just reach back to the left side of the chassis (when reaching from the front) and there it is, not a single cable or wire in the way whatsoever...!

 

[bobcomer]

No clue. Never like it that way on the mini either. Most desktops have it on the front or top. I'd actually prefer it on the top.

 

[lcubed]

It's been awhile since I've owned a desktop Mac, but does anyone fully power down their machines anymore? I would think you'd simply put it to sleep and then wake it via a key press.

i've had to push and hold the power button to enter recovery mode on my studio as part of a troubleshooting session with apple tech support. it's a rare thing but sometimes required.

 

[circatee]

With desktops that I use, they are either on and in use, or in sleep mode. So, to me, having the power button on the back seems to make sense...

 

[dmr727]

i've had to push and hold the power button to enter recovery mode on my studio as part of a troubleshooting session with apple tech support. it's a rare thing but sometimes required.

I've had to force a shutdown of my MBA with the power button a couple of times too*. But I'm not sure it happens enough to justify putting the button on the front of a Mac Studio. As someone mentioned Apple will certainly choose form over function in many cases, so I'm really not surprised the button is on the back.


*Elder Scrolls Online isn't native, but generally runs great on my MBA regardless. Unfortunately when it decides to act up, it does so spectacularly.

 

[aurora_sect]

I'd prefer it on front, though it's not really a big deal to me. I like to shutdown overnight for maximum energy savings.

 

[dmr727]

I'd prefer it on front, though it's not really a big deal to me. I like to shutdown overnight for maximum energy savings.

Your post made me curious about the power consumption of a Mac Studio while asleep, and a little searching came up with a data point of 1.5W. Not sure how accurate that is, but it's a pretty small number.

 

[drewaz]

It's been awhile since I've owned a desktop Mac, but does anyone fully power down their machines anymore? I would think you'd simply put it to sleep and then wake it via a key press.

Other than power consumption, are their any downsides to leaving the Studio on all the time?

When mine is on, it doesn't sleep because it's uploading weather data from our backyard weather station. I'm wondering if leaving it on 24/7 without sleeping is ok.

 

[aurora_sect]

Your post made me curious about the power consumption of a Mac Studio while asleep, and a little searching came up with a data point of 1.5W. Not sure how accurate that is, but it's a pretty small number.

It is small. According to this chart, which I have not personally validated in any way, it is still about 7x the power draw of a shut down Studio. I'd be interested in what that adds up to over 7-10 years.

Mac Studio Power Consumption

It would all depend on what your doing. CPU intensive tasks like rendering etc will obviously use more power. Looking at the tech specs, I would say 370 is for top spec ultra model. At a guess I would say general use no more than 150-200w (Edit after post above: maybe even less). Which is less...

forums.macrumors.com

I used to leave my 27" iMac on/sleeping until my IT consultant suggested that the overnight power draw was not negligible. I do realize that Studios supposedly draw a lot less power.

 

[circatee]

To me, if a desktop is on, and in 'sleep mode', over a long period the unit should still be okay, no?
After all, I've been doing this with my Windows desktops for over a decade...

 

[triptolemus]

I'd be interested in what that adds up to over 7-10 years.

Ten dollars.

 

[drewaz]

To me, if a desktop is on, and in 'sleep mode', over a long period the unit should still be okay, no?
After all, I've been doing this with my Windows desktops for over a decade...

what if a Studio is on 24/7 and not in sleep mode (display is off though) .....

 

[Nermal]

*Elder Scrolls Online isn't native, but generally runs great on my MBA regardless. Unfortunately when it decides to act up, it does so spectacularly.

Do you know whether there's a thread or discussion about this somewhere? The only time I've had to force power-off my machine is when running certain games which crash WindowServer, and I'm wondering whether it's the same issue with ESO.

 

[ccsicecoke]

You mean the power button all the way to the side of the back panel...?

You just reach back to the left side of the chassis (when reaching from the front) and there it is, not a single cable or wire in the way whatsoever...!

Unfortunately in my current setup, the machine is sitting against the left side wall now

 

[ccsicecoke]

You never turn Macs off with a power button. Shutdown is a software function.

It used to bring a powering off dialog window where you could choose whether to sleep, restart or shutdown, where "shut down" is the default and you could hit enter to quickly turn it off, or use tab to quickly switch to other options and hit space to quickly select. Now with eject key missing on new fingerprint reader keyboard, I'll never able to use control+eject key shortcut to bring out that dialog.

So I would appreciate if one could easily use the power button to bring out that dialog.

 

[Jrshelby]

It used to bring a powering off dialog window where you could choose whether to sleep, restart or shutdown, where "shut down" is the default and you could hit enter to quickly turn it off, or use tab to quickly switch to other options and hit space to quickly select. Now with eject key missing on new fingerprint reader keyboard, I'll never able to use control+eject key shortcut to bring out that dialog.

So I would appreciate if one could easily use the power button to bring out that dialog.

I used to do that as well to bring up the dialog box. I feel like Apple missed the boat to add a power button back to the keyboard where the finger print sensor is. It was the best feature on the Mac, followed by the start up chime, which were both extremely satisfying and unique in the Mac world.

 

[StudioMacs]

Wouldn't turning on/off the mac studio would be much easier to just press a button next to the front LED power indicator? instead of blindly reaching to the back and figuring out where the power button is among bunch of intertwined cables?

I get that design might inherited from Mac mini, but Mac mini was 1) small and can be easily flipped up to find the button; 2) Also with the small area on the back to be explored, one can easily find the power button blindly. Both of which are not the case on Mac Studio

for the same reason it’s been on the back of the iMac for over a decade, and we managed to live.

 

[Jrshelby]

for the same reason it’s been on the back of the iMac for over a decade, and we managed to live.

Yes and it was concave so as to guide you now the Mac studio is contoured to the rounded corner and can no longer be distinguished from the body. And I’ll add I put my Mac studio under my desk and more then an arms reach away. With an iMac the button is always right within arms reach. And that’s besides the fact that if you touch the studio slightly it slides like it’s on ice.