I am always a little nervous when it comes to leaving my macs turned ON when I am out. has anybody ever heard of a mac caught fire, is it possible you think ?

This mac I am on now (iMac, used as biz/internet machine) hasn't been turned off since I got it in 1998 except a few days here and there when was away, other than that it runs 24/7. Same with everything in the studio except the video monitors. Hope this is helpful.

Hey I have worked at a bunch of different studios and everyone has a different idea on leaving computers on. One place I worked went with the leave everything on all time approach. While other places have had the opposite approach of turning every damn switch off in the building before locking up for the night. Personally I think leaving the stuff on is the best approach, environmentalist will argue it is a waste of energy but every thing seems to run smoother this way. Like the old saying goes "if it ain't broke don't turn it off!!"

I leave my Mac and PC on 24/7. I think it is best for the computer, especially the hard drives and fans. I turn the computers off, sometimes, when going away on vacation for longer than 2 or 3 days at a time. But it's my studio gear about which I've always been confused. Do you guys leave any of your musical/recording gear on 24/7? Lately I've been powering up in the morning, and leaving everything on all day, then shutting off at the end of the night. What do you guys do?

I only shut things down when a) I go away for a weekend b) there's a lightning storm

I had a monitor (an Optiquest 17") start making a funny clicking sound and the literally start shooting blue flames out of the back of it. If I had not been there, my house would have burned down. No joke. Needless to say, because of that experience and the possibility of lightning storms, my studio is hooked up to 3 six-way surge supressors all of which come out of my wall sockets when I am not using it.