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To your definitive resource for all computer related needs. We are here to help.
To your definitive resource for all computer related needs. We are here to help.
A lot of people always ask me, is it better to leave a computer on or is it better to shut it off when you’re not using it. There seems to be a lot of misinformation out there, and so called facts about one or the other method. I am going to try and break down the two options as clearly as possible so you can make the best decision for you. Personally I take separate approaches, I always shut down my laptop when I am not using it since it gets hot, my server is on and has been on for nearly 2 years straight without a reboot. My wife’s PC gets shut down whenever I shut it down for her, otherwise it gets left on.
For many people the convenience of simply leaving the computer on is nice, nobody likes to wait, but really in my opinion that is where the benefits end. I mean if you are running a server that many people access frequently sure leaving it on is a must but other than that there is no so called benefit to leaving your PC on all the time. Which brings me to of course the cons, skipping over the fact that you are simply wasting electricity, you put extra strain on fans, and hard drives, and power supplies. Now, hardware failure can happen for a multitude of reasons and I have had computers last years and years that run constantly, and ones that have nothing but problems that are not, it’s just as a general rule I like to not waste electricity, and put extra strain on my computer especially if I am not going to use it every single day.
There are several positive things that come from turning off your computer between uses, the first of which is the electricity savings. Computers use more than you think and if you’re not using them it’s kind of like letting your car just idle all day. Also, buy shutting off the computer between uses especially if you can go days without using it, you save a lot of wear and tear on things like computer cooling fans, and power supplies. There are some that say the sudden jolt of turning on and off computers cause issues so that could be presumed a con here, although I haven’t really had that happen too often. People think of a computer sort of like a light bulb, they don’t often blow while they are on, they can be left on for days, then when you turn them off and on again, that’s when the bulb pops. So there is some weight to this theory.
Personally, I would recommend this, if you go days without using your computer, turn it off, if you use it everyday, sometimes multiple times and don’t really care about the electricity it drains leave it on. This is why this is such a tough question to answer it’s really a lifestyle question, and it’s up to you.