Turn PC off or leave on?

[Simon]

What do you do when you've finished using your PC, turn it off or let it go on standby? I turn mine off to save on power but it can be a pain and probably gets started about 6 times a day!

 

[GrahamC230K]

Had to add a 3rd option to answer. It pretty much kills everything that uses much power after a few hours, but is less painfull than booting up. Slightly quicker to wake up than return from standby, but not much in it on a fast machine.

 

[scotth_uk]

My laptop is on 24/7. My desktop is on from 0700-2300. Mac goes to sleep a lot.

 

[mercmanuk]

leave on or turn off

electronic components last longer when kept at a constant temperature,what kills motherboards and processors is constantly on,off,on,off.its better to leave on all the time or turn on when you need it then off when you go to bed.not on for 5 mins when you get up,10 mins when your home from work,5 mins after tea,little billy has it on for 30 mins,you get the idea on and off 15 times in one day ,just leave it on.

 

[PJH]

4th option:- on in the morning, off at night.

 

[pammy]

2 out of our three are left on - usually.

 

[Flyer]

I have three here; a server, a CCTV PC, and my main desktop (plus a couple of laptops). All three computers are left on 24/7.

I did come into my office at 2am this morning (after a marathon session of GT4 ) and marvel at all the red and blue LEDs, disk drives and fans and wonder whether it was too much ...

 

[wallingd]

I agree with PJH.

 

[fuzzer]

Me paying the leckie :

On and off when needed and standby rules set if someone forgets to turn it off. Mac is wonderful at the sleep and wake up trick :bannana:

In work :

Standby

 

[SEM]

24/7 Exept when on holiday

 

[andy_k]

the main comps are on all the time - usually because they are being used for something, kids machine goes into standby when not in use and the laptop gets switched on and off as required.

Andy

 

[Thmsshaun]

I use mine at home once a day. Say when I get home from work. If Im going to use it through stages throughout the night then I will leave it switched on until I go to bed.

Works computer is on from 8-5 at least and I always switch off when I go home.

 

[grasmere]

24/7 Exept when on holiday

Like SEM

This PC and my last one I have had for approx 5 years each and always
on 24/7. The HD's are set to switch off after approx 30 mins of no access and the monitor has a 5 min screensaver and a 20min off if no mouse or keyboard access. I switch the monitor on when I start and off when I go.

NEVER a problem - yet

I only power down fully when I go on holiday to give my pc a little break too

 

[Steve_Perry]

I have two laptops:

My own personal one is left on 24/7, with HDD's set to spin down after 30mins inactivity and a blank screen saver kicks in after 10mins. The monitor that is connected to it switches to standby after about 20mins. Both monitor & lappy are left on all the time unless I need to reboot or if I am away from home for any length of time.

My works lappy is switched on and off as it travels with me everywhere, including to and from work each day but if left at home for any length of time, e.g. if I'm on a few days leave and staying at home, then it is also left on 24/7. The main reason for switching off rather than stand-by is that it seems to make the switch better from home network to work network when booted from cold as opposed to coming back from stand-by/hibernation, the main issue being reconnection to network printers.

BTW I voted 24/7 as ideally that's how I prefer my PC's, on similar note my BB cable modem and wireless router have only been switched off once since purchasing them last year.

S.

 

[Ian B Walker]

I switch mine on in the morning when I either get up or get in and turn it of before going to bed. That can be anything from 2 to 12 hours.

 

[Sp!ke]

There are some interesting stats on this... They say that a high end P4 PC if left on will consume on average £870 of electricity over 5 years

To give you a rough idea how many systems I have running, my loft has 14 ports of a 16 port KVM switch in use .. and thats just the loft.

Consequently, I've worked out that my electricity bill is £150/quarter higher due to my hardware fetish.

My recommendation is to switch them off if you can - firstly to save money and secondly switching it off is the very best firewall available.

 

[mercmanuk]

spike those figures must be wrong £870/5 years =£174
£174/7.5pence per kwh electric=2320kwh
2320/365 days=6.3kwh electric per day on your system
6.3*7.5pence=47 pence per day

ive just used a clipon ammeter to measure what my system is using
its 2 amps on full load
1kwh electric=4.3 amps
2 amps*24 hours = 48 amps
48 amps/4.3=11.1kwh electric per day
thats 84 pence per day
11.1*365 days*5 years=20257 kwh
20257*7.5 pence=£1519
oh shit makes you think!!!!!!!
everything goes through a ups unit
2 laptops
1 p4 system/19" monitor
external dvdrw
2 external hdd
router

makes you think about what we use
worth my 10 minutes spent working that all out
will i or wont i turn it off tonight that is the question!!

 

[pluggers]

I just switch mine on when needed and then turn it off before I go to bed letting it go on standby inbetween.I will make sure the speakers are turned off and will switch the monitor off before leaving it though.