Do you leave your computer on all of the time?

Off if I'm not using it or not at the house, even when I'm at home I never leave it running overnight.

work pc runs 24/7, only gets rebooted after system updates are installed, which is normally once a month
 
I leave my iMac on all the time.

Work PC gets turned off, the 5 minutes it takes to load up etc gives me time for a quick nap at my desk.
 
I switch mine off. Prior to getting an SSD, the boot up time gave me a chance to organise my desk. With an SSD there doesn't seem any reason why not to switch it off.

I also switch all the wall plugs at night as well (phone chargers etc). I don't see the point in having things sapping away.
 
On pretty much constantly as it's used for a media hub. Should probably shut it down during the day, though, and just boot it up when I get in from work unless I'm downloading something on Steam etc. overnight.

I'm much too lazy, however.

The laptop is generally left in Hibernate mode as I can't be bothered closing things on startup etc. but lately it's been turning itself back on during the night and I can't track down the cause. :(
 
mrk said:
I have an SSD on my OS drive but still leave it on 24/7. It's silent, fast and consumes little power when idle so I don't bother turning it off. My HDDs are better off for it as well.

It is true to some extent, turning on and off a PC with mechanical drives will shorten the lifespan of those drives. By how much depends on how often power is cycled and the state of those drives.

Think about it. It's a spinning piece of metal that goes from being hot to cold and that cycle plays out multiple times a day. That metal will warp over time.

I would recommend investing in power efficient components and making sure power management features are enabled in the BIOS. My 4.3GHz quad runs at 1.6GHz when just running normal tasks like watching a video/browsing the web etc. All my fans are at 50% at all times.
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Just switch it off, if you're like me, you'll be upgrading before any of your parts fail due to them being switched on and off.

As it happens my really old machine is still going strong after 9 years of being switched on and off.

If you have an SSD there is really no reason not to.
 
BigBoy said:
My PC is on 24/7 as it serves media to the PS3 and other PC's in the house, when its not in use its in low power mode so not all that bothered about it, uses around 100w at Idle.
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100w at idle? That's quite a lot.

I shut my personal laptop down when not using it.

My workstation at work has 24 days uptime because I restarted it for updates. Before that it had something like 4 months uptime.
 
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Home - Turn it off when not in use

Office PC 1 - On 24/7
Office PC 2 - Gets switched off for the weekend
 
My iMac is left on but sleeps after 30mins. The wife leaves her MacBook Pro on but that also sleeps when not in use/lid closed. Uptime on both of those is epic.

My PC only gets turned on when needed and my server at home is kep on (has a very low power draw though)

At work I don't turn my PC off because I just don't. Lazy I suppose.
 
Since i have got the ssd its off when not in use to save electricity, some of you that leave it on i assume live with mummy still and don't know what an electricity bill is.
 
mrk said:
I have an SSD on my OS drive but still leave it on 24/7. It's silent, fast and consumes little power when idle so I don't bother turning it off. My HDDs are better off for it as well.

It is true to some extent, turning on and off a PC with mechanical drives will shorten the lifespan of those drives. By how much depends on how often power is cycled and the state of those drives.

Think about it. It's a spinning piece of metal that goes from being hot to cold and that cycle plays out multiple times a day. That metal will warp over time.

I would recommend investing in power efficient components and making sure power management features are enabled in the BIOS. My 4.3GHz quad runs at 1.6GHz when just running normal tasks like watching a video/browsing the web etc. All my fans are at 50% at all times.
Click to expand...
If you have your OS on an ssd then your mechanical hard drives should turn off into a standby mode which throws that argument out the window.
 
Off if I am not going to be using it for at least an hour. If I know I'm going to come back in 30 mins I might put it on sleep. I never leave it on overnight unless I am downloading something. If I am going out, I turn it off completely, even at the wall.
 
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