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Is it better to leave a laptop on or off at night?

Incinermyn

Incinermyn

The Abomination Lives!!!
    • 646
    Posts
    17
    Years
    Sorry if there was already a topic like this... This is a topic that's been sort of bugging me for a while actually. It hasn't been a huge deal for me lately, since I've been sort of changing my computer habits a bit lately, but I'm still a little irked by it to an extent. Actually, I have a little backstory to go with it...

    When I was growing up and on into my teenage years, I was always told to make sure that computers are actually turned off at night. It was supposedly okay to put them into sleep mode during the day if I was taking a break, but leaving them on overnight in sleep mode was supposed to be a proverbial "bad habit." Lately, I've been questioning this. The only reason I ever really turned my laptops off at night were to conserve battery life since, on older computers anyways, I knew sleep mode really took a lot of energy. As a result, I got to the point where I just turned my laptops off when I was done using them and only left them in sleep mode if I was taking a short break. However, I noticed months ago that my current laptop uses WAY less power in sleep mode than my old PCs used to, so I began putting it into sleep mode during the day most of the time and only turned it off at night before I went to bed. I have actually gotten rather tired of doing that, so for the past few weeks, I've been putting it in sleep mode overnight sometimes (not every single night, just one or two nights in a row). I'm enjoying the fact that turns on right away when I get back on, though it doesn't take it long to turn on back on to begin with even after being shut down. However, I'm still a little apprehensive about doing it for longer than a few days at a time. Are there any adverse effects to leaving my laptop on in sleep mode overnight most of the time, aside from just slight battery use? I'm not about to leave it on 24/7 or anything, but for one reason or another, I'm still tempted to cling to old habits of actually turning things off when I'm done with them.
     
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    As long as the laptop has proper ventilation, I see no problem with leaving it on all night at all. However, in general, laptops are the device I would turn off at night as well to ensure they last longer.

    On the other hand, I see no problem to keep desktops running all the time, since those typically don't need any major forum of ventilation (well, don't put them up against a wall :P)
     
    Ah, I see. I generally keep my laptop in a case when I'm not using, but I rarely leave it in there in sleep mode. The case I store it in is pretty loose, though, and has a lot of air pockets. In either case, I think I may just stick to my current routine and leave it off most nights. I know it's unwise to leave it somewhere where there's a risk of overheating.
     
    When it comes to me personally, I don't shut my MacBook down when I go to bed but instead I put it on sleep by shutting the lid. Is there anything significant that could happen if I weren't to shut it completely off?
     
    Stargazer said:
    Is there anything significant that could happen if I weren't to shut it completely off?
    Click to expand...
    If you don't have it plugged into a power source, then it could die overnight if doesn't have a lot of battery life left, which could be a problem if you had a lot open and also unsaved work. It's still technically turned on when in sleep mode, but the battery usage is very, very minimal during that time.
     
    xxkaylabby said:
    i've always shut down my laptop when i really used mine. i know my bf shuts down his laptop before bed.
    Click to expand...

    That makes sense to me. I do get a lot of use out of my laptop some days, and I usually do turn it off those times. Otherwise, I'd been leaving mine in sleep mode every other night (and the past two nights) without much thought. I'm thinking of maybe just sticking to that, at least on days I haven't really used my laptop much and don't want to really turn it off.

    I may've just been overthinking the topic, but I feel better about leaving it in sleep mode overnight some times now that I have opinions. Again, I'm not about to leave it in sleep mode all the time, but I wasn't sure if I should change my stance on turning it off at night completely.
     
    My previous Toshiba laptop, I remember leaving it on every day, and I only shut it off when I wanted to do maintenance, or taking it to places like school and all that. Lasted me a good three to four years, though.

    I would limit the "on" for a week at least, then do some once-a-week maintenance (dusting, etc).
     
    I'm certain in regards to the longevity of the Li-ion battery in most notebooks it'd be best to keep it off when not in use, but this laptop is pretty much target practice for me the minute I get myself together enough to assemble a new computer.
     
    Cadance said:
    My previous Toshiba laptop, I remember leaving it on every day, and I only shut it off when I wanted to do maintenance, or taking it to places like school and all that. Lasted me a good three to four years, though.

    I would limit the "on" for a week at least, then do some once-a-week maintenance (dusting, etc).
    Click to expand...

    It crossed my mind that I could try and leave my current one "on" for about a week, but I don't feel entirely comfortable doing that. I think I'm fine with turning it off every other day or every few days, so long as I actually remember to turn it off. My main point in making this thread was just because I wasn't sure if I should break myself of old habits entirely since I was stuck in them pretty devoutly until recently. Since I got my current laptop, though, I have found it better to just leave it in sleep mode most days at the very least since I generally do use it off-and-on throughout the day and I don't like turning it off if I'm just taking a break.
     
    I tend to end up turning off my PCs every night, seeing as I don't want to end up with a warm PC, even though I do know that they'll survive. I like my PCs cool enough at the beginning of the day, so yeah.
     
    I don't shut my laptop off at night, but that's because of my routine. D: I like to have it on in case I decide to do some late night browsing when I can't get any sleep. I do shut off every now and then though. Either that or... if it's not charging on it's plug in, it shuts itself off after the battery dies. I shut my current laptop down whenever I can, but it takes time for it to boot up. I know I should probably shut it down during the night. It's just not that easy to break such a sudden routine. :/ In fact, my laptop hardly ever gets hot. I don't know why. Perhaps, it's just a plus for having a good mac laptop or something.
     
    Like humans, I've always believed that computers also needed rest, especially if they're laptops, so that they would be able to cool off and lift off some strain. Due to that, before going to bed at night, I make sure to shut my computer down. It's become a habit, so to speak.

    Longest time that I have ever kept it on would be about two days, which was completely accidental, as I was busy with things and simply closed the lid without noticing if it's actually turned on or not.
     
    Gardevoir the Dragon Slayer said:
    I always turn my off at night in order to save power and rest the computer and it to cool.
    It not like new computers take ages to turn on like older ones did.
    Click to expand...

    You should meet my mother's laptop. You'd be surprised. I thought she was joking when she said she could feed the cats and get a new cup of coffee before it even gets to the sign-in screen. Ugh, lol.


    In any event, I do have to agree with most of the responses. Desktop or laptop, I always turn them off. Shutting down my computer before walking away has been a habit for a long time - just like making my bed as soon as I wake up. Though I do have a couple good reasons for the former.
    1.) Saving on our already-high electric bill (so many A/C units in this house) by not running things that don't need runnin'.
    2.) It gets hot. Really hot.

    Boyfriend picks on me because I always turn off my computers if I'm walking away from them for awhile or going to bed. Even if only for a half hour, I'll shut it down.. unless I'm waiting on a large download to finish on my super speedy 770~ kbs. :P Still trying to talk my dad into switching from 10Mbps to 60. It's 6x faster for a third of what we pay now, and we're not on a contract. Why haven't we done it yet.
     
    I usually just leave my laptop on when I go to bed. I either put it on sleep mode or just close the cover and let it go to sleep by itself. Sometimes, I also shut it down so that it can get some rest. I use a MacBook Air that's only a few months old, so it never gets overheated or makes loud noises (it only does that when my brother uses it to play his games) when I leave it on for an extended period of time.
     
    People are talking about their laptops getting hot and consuming a lot of power when in sleep mode, but as far as I know laptops don't really get hot nor consume a lot of power when in sleep mode. That's the sole purpose of sleep mode, right? Sleep mode keeps RAM running with a tiny bit of charge, but shuts down everything else completely, so unless your RAM is extremely power-hungry or prone to overheating I don't think that should be an issue. Am I missing something?
     
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