In 1995, when I bought my first computer I was told you shouldn't turn your computer on and off on a daily basis, to use the energy saver mode and keep it on. Keeping it on apparently prolonged its life as hitting the "on" button caused some extra energy? Anyway, has this protocol changed with newer models? My friend insists you should turn the computer off when finished (at least once a day). So, should we leave it on for weeks at a time and only turn off during storms and travel? Or turn off daily? Sorry if this question has already been asked- I couldn't find a topic similar.
Overall I have found that it doesn't hurt nor help "prolong" a PC's life. There are a few things though. 1 - Most virus and windows updates will not take affect until the system is restarted. 2 - I wouldn't recommend powering the system on and off numerously throughout the day. If you are going to step away from the PC for a few hours then leave it on. 3 - The one thing that I would always turn off is the monitor though.
The Technology has changed dramatically since the Pentium II's. Before that, the on and off cycles would surge system circuits and the heat up and cool down of the CPU were detrimental to the system. Now it's more of an energy cost thing more than anything else. If anything doesn't like the on off cycles it's your hard drive. A hard drive, when turned on, will experience a surge of electricity that will spin its platter to a speed of approximately 10,000 rpm. It will then begin to warm up and reach an optimum operating temperature. Once you turn the system off, the platter spins down and the hard drive then cools to room temperature. Depending on the environment, these temperature swings along with the voltage surges when powering on can greatly reduce the life of your hard drive when shutting the system down regularly. The typical hard drive is rated for 40,000 cycles. More than you'll ever give it. Lab tests done by Dell show that a PC running Microsoft Office uses 42.7 watts. If it runs continuously at that rate for 365 days, at 7 cents per kilowatt-hour, the power consumption costs would be $26.18 for the PC and $45.99 for a regular crt monitor, for a total of $72.17 for the workstation. Flat-panel LCD monitors use less energy (22 watts when left on, 3.3 watts in "sleep" mode) than regular monitors (75 watts when left on, 5 watts in "sleep" mode), McCall says. So the same workstation with Microsoft Office running for a year would use $39.67 in power with a flat panel. Meanwhile, if a PC was kept in "sleep" mode for 20 hours, for every four hours "on," as Dell recommends, the annual energy costs per PC would total $16.17 with a regular monitor and $9.88 with a flat panel. Using "hibernate," the costs would be slightly cheaper. I never turn mine off, unless, I'm going away overnight. But, then again, I'm a geek who works on PC's.
Listen to the boys, they know their stuff . I cut mine off at night, but cut my monitor off when I step away. Big power drain here. Frogger
i cant remember the last time i turned my pc off. its a custom system i built about 5 years ago. have had no problems. as far as my monitor is, since i got an lcd i turn it off when i wont be at the computer for several hours or more. like overnight or when i come into the office.[/url]
