If you leave your computer on 24 / 7 / 365 and configure an energy plan for it, you can achieve a good balance between using your computer instantly and saving money. Standby mode can reduce your computer’s power consumption by the watts, and believe it or not, cut down on your computer’s annual percentage of “wear and tear!” – Yes, or no?
Shutdown Basics
Whether or not you should turn off your computer every night is an individual decision, and you will have to weigh the pros and cons. The idea of not turning off the computer at night is very popular.
This argument stems from the idea that when a computer is running, it heats up. The ambient temperature of the air around a computer can be about 80 F. The temperature of a processor (CPU) can be anywhere between 100 F and over 120 F. High-end graphics cards can go a step further and sweltering temperatures of 185 F. Physics 101 tells us that the hotter an object is, the faster it expands. When a computer heats up, it heats up the components, causing wear and tear on them.
Leaving the computer off reduces the risk of such failures, and turning off your computer prevents most of the external vectors that can cause computer components to fail.
When you shut down your computer, all software, programs, files and processes are closed and all memory (RAM) is erased. It is like the computer goes into a very deep sleep – the mind slows down, and in this case, stops, and allows all the parts to stop for a while.
In this case, when shutting down, it is important to save your work so that your computer does not toss out whatever you were working on!
Of course, the computer will need some time to restart the programs and files that you needed to turn off, so there is some time spent there in the wait. Note that the recovery time for a different power state can be considerable on hard drives, but much less on solid-state drives. This can make a difference as well!
Power Bill Anxiety?
Switching off the computer prevents electricity from being consumed. Computers consume very little power to keep them operational, and when the components that consume most of the energy (hard drives and displays) are switched off, you’re really cutting down on your consumption even more. However, in most cases, standby is as good as turning off the computer, as these pieces stop just as hard as they do during a full shutdown.
If you turn off your computer each night, you can save a few dollars a month on your electricity bill, that’s true. If you only use your computer for a short time during the day, it makes sense to turn it off when you are done, true. So, why not keep it turned off? Keep this at the tip of your mind, we’ll talk about it in a bit.
Running a Server?
If your computer acts as a server, it must remain turned on for access. Turning off a server computer is like bolting a door from the inside – no chance of traffic coming in getting it open!
What About “Sleep”?
If you put your computer into sleep mode, it will be in a similar state to being shut down. It stops the power consumption and switches off the computer as soon as you click the button. When you turn your computer back on after hibernation, this requires an increase in performance that accelerates the wear and tear of your computer, sure, but it is less harsh than a hard shutdown, and also generally doesn’t require you to save and close out of every open program by way of keeping active memory (RAM) and power going while on sleep mode. This means that when you wake up your computer, it returns to a working state with all your apps and data as you left it turned on when it fell asleep. Most computers will go to sleep automatically when plugged in and not plugged in – two separate settings you can find in you own laptop’s battery life settings.
What About Wear and Tear?
If your goal is to maximize service life, it makes sense to turn off a new computer and run it around the clock.
Or…
Turning off your computer so that the internal components can rest can help prolong the limited life cycle.
Which is it?
Well, that’s quite honestly up to debate. Some experts claim that the resting time for a computer is important for the internal components – compared to having an engine run 24/7 – eventually, parts would begin to fail! However, some other experts back up their non-stop attitude with the fact that computers are really designed to be replaced every few years, and the quality of modern component materials is up to snuff to keep a computer running 24/7 – by the time they begin to fail, it is time to get a new computer anyway.
The Ultimate Decision
There is one thing both sides of this argument agree on; it is a bad idea to keep the computer on for too long. Most experts agree that it’s probably a good idea to shut down your laptop at least once a week if you keep on sleep mode most nights.
The main benefit of switching off your computer in this way is that you save money on your electricity bill, but even with minimal savings, you won’t hear the buzz of the fan or notifications, and a reboot will help your computer perform better, after all, it takes a reboot to install new updates. Who could complain with updates?