Is leaving a laptop running constantly okay?

[elmyra42]

So, I've been looking at buying a laptop to replace my main comp. I like the idea of being able to take my primary PC over to a friend's house, etc.; the only thing that would really suffer is gaming, and I'm doing a lot of that on consoles these days anyway. The thing is, my PC is on pretty much constantly due to certain applications I have running. Can that be done with a laptop? I seem to remember reading comments about laptops overheating and such when left on for long periods of time. Is that true, or is it only true when left on a vent-blocking surface such as carpeting? Will the hard drive and other internals stand up to near-constant use? I'm hoping that some of you have experience with this. TIA!

 

[sk560]

yeap.. it's ok... i leave my iBook on 24/7 running folding@home and MLdonkey (eDonkey for OS X).

 

[JammingJay]

With the improvements of notebooks these days, I believe most will stand up to 24/7 use as long as the fans/vents aren't blocked, and with some proper maintenance. I'd say your notebook will become obsolete before it dies of constant use.

 

[elmyra42]

Thanks for the replies - they sound encouraging so far.

 

[XBoxLPU]

Just put it to sleep and you will be fine

I leave my Powebook on 24/7, when not in use the lid is closed ( sleeping )

 

[MWink]

I know numerous people who leave their laptops on 24/7 (NOT in suspend mode) and they have all been going for at least a year. These include IBM, Dell, and Toshiba laptops. It shouldn't be a problem.

 

[OldSpooky]

I made my ThinkPad T40 run for 25 hours straight crunching Prime95. No problems, and the machine got warm at most.

As long as the machine is in a well ventilated area (ie not on a bed or carpet) you should be fine

 

[Shalmanese]

Just in case, take your battery out if your going to be running it for more than a week at a time on AC power. Thats even if you have it off but charging.

 

[elmyra42]

Originally posted by: Shalmanese
Just in case, take your battery out if your going to be running it for more than a week at a time on AC power. Thats even if you have it off but charging.

Good point, I've killed a couple of cellphone batteries leaving them plugged in for too long. Thanks to everybody for the info, I'm definitely going to go portable - especially since the MB and CD burner on my desktop are crapping out anyway.

 

[nolovenohope]

If you do leave it on for a while, just don't leave it on your lap...and burn your private parts, just like that guy from England.

 

[jschuk]

Go ahead and leave it on, but I would suggest setting the HDD to power down as to reduce the wear on it.

 

[Soybomb]

Only things to worry about would be the fans would go out sooner. The MTBF on the hd's are quite high usually.

 

[Jeff7]

You could also get something like this for the laptop, to help keep it cool.

 

[JackHawksmoor]

Just in case, take your battery out if your going to be running it for more than a week at a time on AC power. Thats even if you have it off but charging.

Yeah, good piece of advice! I didn't know that. When/if I get a notebook later this month, I might just leave the battery out, since I'd probably use it on AC 99% of the time.

 

[Gage8]

Originally posted by: Jeff7
You could also get something like this for the laptop, to help keep it cool.

nice

 

[XBoxLPU]

Originally posted by: Shalmanese
Just in case, take your battery out if your going to be running it for more than a week at a time on AC power. Thats even if you have it off but charging.

Actually, there is no harm

http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=156922&highlight=leaving