Do you turn off your computer?

[TomCat]

I typically shut it off every night and while I'm at work. But that is mainly due to the heat it generates. And since I have my desktop in my bedroom.

I heard it said that your computer actually uses more power during boot up and shut down, then it will at idle for so many hours with the monitor turned off. Not sure how true that is, but it makes a bit of sense. If I'm planning to use my PC later in the day, I'll let it run with the monitor off.

[epp_b]

I put my laptop in stand-by every night. Takes five seconds to power down at night and another five to power up in the morning and everything is back exactly where I left it the night before.

My Linux desktop that runs a web server stays on 24/7. I had it running for four months (and it was still going strong) until a recent power outage

[Polygon]

My main system is always on as it's a server. The laptop goes to standby when I'm not using it. The DOS box and the backup computer are always off unless I need to use them for something.

[viilaaja@pt cruiser]

Originally Posted by CD82

So the most useless pc is backed up but not your server?

Thanks, that'll come back eventually

if you read the next line in my post it states my server has eighter 40mis of ups time (with 19" crt connected to laptop) or 58mins (without the monitor).

and i'll press f5 untill i see the bf2 one

[CD82]

Crap, I guess I was too tired after all

[brydiem]

I turn my laptop off whenever it isn't being used for more than a couple of hours, because it has chronic overheating issues and is really loud. I only leave it on overnight when I'm downloading something important, and that (leaving it on for a few days to download a big file) is what caused my mainboard and video card failure. I'll probably leave it on overnight when I dl the HD eps of Top gear, but I have a laptop cooler now to help with the situation.

[the Interceptor]

Originally Posted by klankymen

Actually, from what I understand, the hard drive gets more wear from one spin-up than it does from hours of continuous running.

That is to be proven. Of course, that is true for a lot of machinery. But with a harddrive, the wear when spinning up is minimal because the temperature differences are subtle and the masses to accelerate are fairly small. The bearings on the other hand have a whole lot to do over time. If you leave your 7200rpm hdd on for 24 hours, it has done about 10 million revolutions. Now think of that, day in and day out. All the harddrives that have been failing on me or which I replaced before they were able to do so had shot bearings. I have serious doubts that this is down to spin-downs and spin-ups.

Originally Posted by TomCat

I heard it said that your computer actually uses more power during boot up and shut down, then it will at idle for so many hours with the monitor turned off. Not sure how true that is, but it makes a bit of sense. If I'm planning to use my PC later in the day, I'll let it run with the monitor off.

I've done a fair share of measuring the power consumption of computers, and I can tell you that's plain BS. Given you have taken measures in your OS to reduce power consumption (Cool&Quiet & co.), your PC will start to use less energy as soon as your OS has been booted. So as long as it is still booting, it will use more power than in idle. Nevertheless, a PC will only about double its power consumption (worst case!) when booting. So given your PC uses 100W at idle, it'll use 200W (again, worst case) until the OS is running, like for a minute or so.

And if you didn't take measures to reduce power consumption, your idle will be even higher and you will compensate for the start-up even quicker. Either case, it's a matter of very few minutes.

[DanRoM]

At work, I switch on my PC in the morning and switch it off again when I go home. At home, the PC is only on when I actually use it because it's an old, loud and energ-hungry Pentium IV.

[LeMans GTR]

I only have one laptop that I use for everything (except gaming, I find it easier just to play with a console), and that is put on standby. I use to shut down, but without an SSD, booting up just takes way too long.

[Adunaphel]

My main PC I turn off most of the time, unless I plan on RDP'ing to it from work or wherever I am to do stuff (torrenting and the like)
My work laptop generally sleeps and/ or hibernates.
My netbook generally hibernates or gets turned off if I don't intend to use it for more than 2 days.
My wife's laptop generally sleeps.
My home server is on 24/7 of course.

[Clegko]

I usually hibernate my main desktop during the time when I sleep (night or otherwise), unless I 1) can't be bothered, 2) forget/passout before I can or 3) Just really can't be bothered.

My laptop, however, is almost always on, unless you count quick restarts to jump between OS X and Windows. I don't really count those, though, because it's never truly off, like it would be if I was to fully shut it down.

[Archie411]

My comp is usually on. But some times when im not doing anything I just hibernate it.

[awdrifter]

Originally Posted by the Interceptor

That is to be proven. Of course, that is true for a lot of machinery. But with a harddrive, the wear when spinning up is minimal because the temperature differences are subtle and the masses to accelerate are fairly small. The bearings on the other hand have a whole lot to do over time. If you leave your 7200rpm hdd on for 24 hours, it has done about 10 million revolutions. Now think of that, day in and day out. All the harddrives that have been failing on me or which I replaced before they were able to do so had shot bearings. I have serious doubts that this is down to spin-downs and spin-ups.

That is interesting, I calculated the annual revolutions for a 7200rpm drive is 3.78 billion revs, but a 5400rpm drive is only 2.84 billion revs. I think I'm going to get more 5400rpm drives for storage from now on. Since I don't turn off my computer, my drives will pretty much run that amount of revs per year. The 5400 rpm drives are saving 900 million revs per year, that's go to lead to longer longevity.

[NooDle]

I never got the point of hibernate/sleep for desktops... it doesn't take THAT much longer to startup from scratch

anyways, for me

home desktop : off when I'm not using it, only stays on for long periods of time for torrenting
netbook : hibernate. Only reboot if I really have to (ie something has frozen, or i've installed something that needed a reboot), which is almost never
werk laptop : hibernate. It's super old, and booting just takes too damn long (5min or so)

[Reckoning]

Yeah I turn them off when not using (family pc and my laptop).

Though most days the pc is left on all day.

[MacGuffin]

I only switch my computer off, when I'm not at home for at least a couple of hours. Otherwise I let it running.

In general I believe that letting electronic devices run at a constant temperature, without mechanical stress to the parts due to expansion and contraction, prolongs their lives. Everytime you switch a device on or off, it is put under stress -- electrically and mechanically. That's why my stereo/home cinema system is always on and I didn't have a single failure of a device in 25 years.

I know, however, that there is a dispute about whether it's good for the hard drives, too, or not. The question is: What shortens the life expectancy more: Constant running or powering up and shutting down all the time?

[Night_Hawk]

How many people would shit bricks If I said my computer has been on for about 7 or 8 years straight?

If it was ever turned off it was probably to blow shit out of the fan(s).

(pentium 3 with 20gb harddrive FTW)

[AiR]

Dude download Uptime.exe (a small 44kb command line program from Microsoft) and run it. Works on any OS made by Microsoft and report back.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q232243/

[MadCow809]

Originally Posted by Night_Hawk

How many people would shit bricks If I said my computer has been on for about 7 or 8 years straight?

If it was ever turned off it was probably to blow shit out of the fan(s).

(pentium 3 with 20gb harddrive FTW)

Not amazed, try beat my Celeron 333Mhz + 128mb ram & 10gb seagate HDD machine that I donated to work as a spare PC. It's been running since 1999.

[viilaaja@pt cruiser]

oh why did "uptime-project" had to end many years ago, we could have made nice list of users