You can search this topic and find a wide variety of opinions. I personally prefer to turn my system off at night. There is no extra "wear and tear" associated with turning a system off daily. And obviously, leaving a system on consumes electricity.
I know some people leave their systems on 24/7, but then there are lots of people that leave their cars running in front of 7/11, leave their TV on all the time, etc.
Using the Advanced Forum Search on the bottom of this page, you can quite easily find the answer to this often asked question.
This comes up monthly. 1/2 the posts will say to leave it on, 1/2 the posts will say to turn it off. You'll hear garbage about hard drives failing the more you turn them on and off, you'll hear that it's susceptible to voltage spikes if left on.
It's wasteful and unnecessary to leave it on while you're sleeping. My computers all go off at night and I've only had one hard drive fail and that was back in 1985...
i'm one of the wasteful ones who leaves the computer on all the time
but then again, I'm paying $30000 a year for state school so I'm gonna milk every last dime and nickel from the place :-)
I used to have a laptop that I would turn off every night (it got too hot otherwise) but now with my desktop, I just leave it on because I'm too impatient to wait the 30 seconds for bootup.
No significant difference in either system. If you're at home, probably smarter to turn it off to conserve power.
I leave mine on 24/7. I like knowing that it's ready to use no matter what time of day it is. I do have the monitor turn off after 20 minutes of being idle, though. Personally, I have no problems with the computer, and my energy bill doesn't seem any higher than normal. Basically, it's just personal preference. I don't believe it's wasteful to leave it on, but some people do, and that's their opinion. If they want to waste 30 seconds for it to boot up, then that's their problem. I think that wasting 30 seconds is worse than wasting a little bit of money. I often leave stuff downloading, and my instant messenger is always connected, and I like it to be always connected, so maybe that's part of the reason I leave the computer on all the time. Whatever. It's personal preference, so if you want to leave it on, then do so. If you don't, then turn it off after your done using it or at night.
all products have an expected life span, by turning off the pc while not in use will most likely increase the life of the electrical components. But usually people have replaced the item for a newer or better option way before then. so it is usually a matter of choice. but I suggest that when not in use always turn off the monitor , uses the most power and usually has the shortest life span.
Well, I've heard of a lot of people having dead components even though they turn their computer off, and these are like new computers. I'm not saying there's a connection, but I've kept my computer on most of the time for 5 years and I've never had a failing component. I'm not saying there's a connection there either, but I don't really think the fact that you keep it on or turn it off really has that much to do with the components, except for maybe the power supply.
I turn mine off overnight or when it's not in use for a couple of hours or more. I've been doing this since the early 90's and have never experienced a hardware failure. Besides it doesn't hurt to give Windows a good cold reboot every once in a while.
Yes. Every computer I've ever owned since my Apple ][e in 1980 was on 24/7. NO problems on any of the machines that can be related to 24/7 operation. I do use a UPS though to maintain clean power and to properly shut down the machine during power outages.
osprey4
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April 7th, 2005 00:00
You can search this topic and find a wide variety of opinions. I personally prefer to turn my system off at night. There is no extra "wear and tear" associated with turning a system off daily. And obviously, leaving a system on consumes electricity.
I know some people leave their systems on 24/7, but then there are lots of people that leave their cars running in front of 7/11, leave their TV on all the time, etc.
rickmktg
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April 7th, 2005 00:00
rickmktg
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April 7th, 2005 00:00
osprey4
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April 7th, 2005 00:00
rsxter
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April 7th, 2005 14:00
i'm one of the wasteful ones who leaves the computer on all the time
but then again, I'm paying $30000 a year for state school so I'm gonna milk every last dime and nickel from the place :-)
I used to have a laptop that I would turn off every night (it got too hot otherwise) but now with my desktop, I just leave it on because I'm too impatient to wait the 30 seconds for bootup.
No significant difference in either system. If you're at home, probably smarter to turn it off to conserve power.
csk13
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April 7th, 2005 20:00
rsxter
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April 8th, 2005 06:00
So I guess money-wise, it really isn't a significant amount.
I'm not sure what this does environmentally tho...
defaoite
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April 8th, 2005 09:00
csk13
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April 8th, 2005 19:00
Majestic
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April 8th, 2005 19:00
tcwvhw
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April 8th, 2005 22:00
Yes. Every computer I've ever owned since my Apple ][e in 1980 was on 24/7. NO problems on any of the machines that can be related to 24/7 operation. I do use a UPS though to maintain clean power and to properly shut down the machine during power outages.
Tom