Mother Jones: Should You Shut Down Your Computer or Put It to Sleep?

[marmar]

Phew! You've made it through another day at the office. You're just about to don your coat and head out into the evening—but your computer's still on. Should you turn it off, or leave it in "sleep" mode? Some say it's better to shut down, since that way it won't be using any power while you're not around. But others say that the process of shutting down and starting up again uses more power than letting your machine sleep. Who's right?

First things first: Turning your computer off, then on again does not use more power than leaving it on in "sleep" mode. "That's a myth," says Bruce Nordman, an energy efficiency researcher at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Another myth: Turning your computer on and off is bad for the machine. "In order to do any real damage, you'd have to turn it on and off far more frequently than anyone would ever want to," says Nordman. That said, trying to remember to shut down your machine every night isn't necessarily the most effective energy-savings strategy. Here's why.

Fifteen years ago, when computer manufacturers first experimented with sleep mode (it used to be called "standby"), the energy savings weren't very dramatic. Today things are different: According to energy efficiency expert Michael Bluejay, while in use, the average laptop requires 15-60 watts, while desktops use 65-250 watts, plus an additional 15-70 for the monitor. In sleep mode, however, most laptops use a measly two watts, and desktops with monitors use 5-10 watts, says Nordman. ("Hibernate" modes on some computers use even less energy—for a good rundown on the difference between various power management modes, check out Michael Bluejay's guide.) Because sleep settings use so little energy, Nordman believes that it isn't really worth making a big production out of remembering to shut down your computer every day: "Much more important to make sure that your computer is set to go into power-saving mode after a certain period of idle time." .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2010/10/should-you-shut-down-your-computer-or-put-it-sleep

[blondeatlast]

1. Interesting--and a cute kitty at the link to boot (pun unintended), Checking my settings now. nt

[Coventina]

2. I completely shut down my laptop because if I use "sleep" it gets

all buggy and burpy. After it gave me the "blue screen of death" a few times I started shutting it down instead of using "sleep" and it solved the problem.

:shrug:

[MineralMan]

3. I shut mine down, not to save energy, but so it reboots.

You'd be amazed how much better your computer runs if you shut it down once in a while. A reboot clears your RAM of all sorts of crap your software puts in it, then neglects to remove when you close the program. When you reboot in the morning, you start with a clean system. Try it. Not only will you save energy, but you'll discover a fresh machine every morning.

Note: I'm using XP.

[marmar]

4. Yep. ..... My computer, also using XP, just needs a reboot every so often.

nt

[frazzled]

5. Yes, shut it down at least once a week to run better

I don't shut it down every night because I'm always in the middle of a big project and afraid to lose something.

[blondeatlast]

6. Interesting; I shut mine down last night (running XP) and it is noticeably peppier

this morning.

From now on I will do so every night--I didn't realize that was the cause, but it's certainly an easy fix!

[malaise]

7. A good friend in the computer business told hubby that it makes

sense to to unplug my laptop at least once a week and let the battery run the show. If you never allow the battery to run down and recharge, it dies much faster.

[SidDithers]

8. K&R...nt`

Sid

[notesdev]

9. They shoot Thinkpads, you know

... did you mean something else by "put it to sleep"?

[rug]

10. I remember the same argument about turning off light bulbs.

[Gold Metal Flake]

11. I use Windows. Therefore, I shut down.

I am a CAD designer. I shut my work puter off every evening but for rare exceptions. At home I have several computers including one in the garage for my automotive files and none of those stay on overnight. I have had problems with laptops recovering after sleep mode (especially the wireless) so I don't bother. Better to shut it down and reboot later. I have one puter with Windows 7, a laptop, and it boots very fast which is nice.

Anyways, shut down and reboot for best performance and energy savings.

[Cognitive_Resonance]

12. Another option-- BOINC: compute for science--

Use the idle time on your computer (Windows, Mac, or Linux) to cure diseases, study global warming, discover pulsars, and do many other types of scientific research.

http://boinc.berkeley.edu/

[Johnny Noshoes]

13. I've got a dual boot system..

I've got a dual boot system - WinXP and Ubuntu 10.10. Ubuntu boots and shuts down blazingly fast. Windows XP takes ages to boot and shut down. I guess WinXP just loads more stuff at start-up.

[w4rma]

14. I let my computers hibernate. My work computer needed a change in the BIOS setting to do it

properly and without blue screening, however. Now it works great and my computers are incredibly stable. They are all running Windows, primarily.

[The Straight Story]

15. I leave mine on 24x7 and no sleep/power saving mode

I have a magic jack attached to it, if it goes to sleep my phone won't work :)

[proud2BlibKansan]

17. How do you like that Magic Jack?

We were thinking of getting one.

[The Straight Story]

18. Works greatly mostly, only 1 real issue at times

Sound gets choppy if there are a lot of things going on with your computer/internet. But then there are 3 different systems in the house owned by different people and my nephew's X box all sharing the same connection.

outside of that, it works wonderful. We got the 5 year deal for $60 (after we tried it first for a year) and got rid of the house phone.

Of course, if your internet goes down - you won't be able to call your provider to tell them ;)

[proud2BlibKansan]

19. We have cell phones but no landline

And a fairly reliable internet connection (knock on wood - it used to suck. LOL)

[proud2BlibKansan]

16. I shut my work computer down on Fridays

And at home I shut it down every day.