On or Off?

So there's been debate about leaving your computer on or off and I don't know what's right or wrong. I for one usually turn my computer off every night or when i'm leaving for the day.

Some say that's bad, some say that's good. I have no clue at this point lol. Some say to leave it on as turning it off would be bad for hardware since it has to use a lot of power to turn on again.

I just wanna know the answer or the right choice before I order a level 4 ODE system.

I guess I would go with that. If you leave it on for a while, let's say a week. Would it be okay if I put it on hibernate or to sleep every night? Will that draw less power than it already does while on?

Also, if you leave it on for a long time, doesn't it overheat and damage the parts? I've had a mac all my life, i'm getting into the PC side right now. It's just that they're completely different, gettin' me confused!

Edited by Seafoam - 08 Jun 2014 at 7:33am

Sweet, Thanks!.

What about turning it off at night, that's more than a few hours.

The correct answer is ...

"It depends."

On what? Your hardware, software and your personal preferences.

During my thirty plus years in IT, I've worked in shops where we turned our workstations off every day at the end of business hours. This was a cost saving measure in the days before "sleep mode" and other low power or power saving options were common. I have also worked in shops where we kept the equipment on all of the time - servers for the most part, in climate controlled environments using hardware with "hot swappable" components. One Linux server was found to have run for over a year without an IPL (reboot). Constant availability (24x7) to our end-users was the goal.

 If your hardware and software plays nicely with the power saving options and you wish to leave your machine on all of the time, go right ahead.

If you don't have hardware and/ or software that plays nicely with power saving options and you don't want to spend the money on utilities, then turn your machine off when it is not needed for several hours. Unless you have a child or pet that can operate the power switch and is fascinated by the noise and sights of powering your computer off and on, then your machine will probably become technically obsolete before a major hardware component fails.

What? You don't believe that a house pet can become fascinated with something and run up your utility bills? Have a look.




P.S. I turn my computer off when it is not going to be used for several hours.


Edited by Theokritos - 08 Jun 2014 at 11:50am

Originally posted by Nav I put my personal rig to sleep and maybe turn it off once a week. When it's on sleep mode, it draws essentially no power and makes getting back to work a 1 second task.

This ^

I don't think I've shut down my machine yet. Sleep mode from finish to start the next day. Easy steps on and off, one button, one second, and "bob's yer uncle".