**Official Thread** Is it better to leave your computer on or turn it off?

[nageov3t]

going to work / going to sleep = turn it off
running errands / going out with friends = leave it running

 

[imported_Imp]

This again...

Turn it off, save some juice.

 

[Tiamat]

According to my Kill-A-Watt, it is better to turn my computer off. I have a AMD 1800+ system and it uses 150 Watts idle. This translates to 108kwh which is exactly 21$ per month. I now turn it off during the day and keep it on at night for downloads and soft music, this will cost me about 10$ per month.

I live alone, and my electricity bill is 55$ per month. My refrigerator constantly uses 150 Watts and spikes to 500 Watts when the compressor is on. The next biggest energy user is my 37" Westinghouse LCD Monitor at 80 Watts.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: lil buttercup
I'm up at college, in dorm, same cost no matter how much electricity I use... this computer is staying on!

But of course, next year's housing costs are going to include electricity consumption. They'll just pass the savings on to you.

 

[homercles337]

Originally posted by: Jeff7
It's cheaper to turn it off. I turn mine off at night, and when I'm away for the day, unless I'm going to have it encoding or recording a TV show.

Yes sir. I was just about to type the exact same thing.

 

[homercles337]

Originally posted by: Amused
Because of thermal wear and tear it is better for the lifespan of the machine to leave it on. Especially the hard drives.

Mine stay on unless I am leaving for more than a few days. Because of this and proper HDD cooling, I have had only one HDD failure ever. (And that was an IBM deathstar over 3 years after everyone else's failed).

Anecdotal. I turn mine off and have only had 1 disc failure in a laptop. I have had more than 20 personal discs.

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: Syrch
wow i didnt' think so many would leave their pc's on. what would it cost to run a typical computer all month long in comparison to shutting it down every day?

Not a whole lot. $10-20 difference or so.

I turn mine off, just because I like my bedroom to be as quiet as possible when I'm going to sleep, and winXP boots so quickly anyway that it doesn't matter.

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: jagec

Originally posted by: Syrch
wow i didnt' think so many would leave their pc's on. what would it cost to run a typical computer all month long in comparison to shutting it down every day?

Not a whole lot. $10-20 difference or so.

I turn mine off, just because I like my bedroom to be as quiet as possible when I'm going to sleep, and winXP boots so quickly anyway that it doesn't matter.

Thats quite a bit of money to me lol

 

[Throckmorton]

I think the wear thing is a myth. Now that winter is coming I'll leave my computer on to contribute to heating. It's probably more efficient for heating than the heatpump AC anyway

 

[Sasiki]

I turn mine off at night and if I'm going to be gone for most of the day. If I'm just going to the mall or something, I'll leave it on. The only drive I've had to fail was a Seagate 30gb.

 

[FoBoT]

there are many reasons to leave it on all the time

only people that don't use it everyday should even consider turning it off

 

[LS20]

i havent habitually shut down my machines since 2001. yes, thats right - 99.99% uptime.

even when i go on month-long vacations i just leave it on with ftp open so i pull movies/music from home computer

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: homercles337

Originally posted by: Amused
Because of thermal wear and tear it is better for the lifespan of the machine to leave it on. Especially the hard drives.

Mine stay on unless I am leaving for more than a few days. Because of this and proper HDD cooling, I have had only one HDD failure ever. (And that was an IBM deathstar over 3 years after everyone else's failed).

Anecdotal. I turn mine off and have only had 1 disc failure in a laptop. I have had more than 20 personal discs.

Thermal stress is "anecdotal?"

Um, OK...

Meanwhile, the reality is that parts are stressed more by turning them on and off daily, or worse, many times a day than simply leaving the system on. The power surge from turing it on is a factor in wear and lifespan as well.

Mine stay on and I have a hardware failure rate far lower than most.

 

[ultimatebob]

Since sleep mode actually works correctly on most PC's now, I don't see a point in using in powering them down anymore.

 

[HannibalX]

I'm glad this is an official thread so we can finally put this issue to rest.