Phaedra from Houston recently sent "Call for Help" this email:
Is it OK to leave a PC or laptop always on?
According to the Department of Energy, the average household in the US spends about $1,300 each year on home energy. While computers are certainly not the main cause of this power drain, it does bring up the classic question: Should one leave a computer on or turn it off?
On the one hand, if you keep it on, you might save your system from early failure. The constant temperature lessens stress on your computer, and the energy cost is minimal (about $40 per year).
Turn your computer off
It's commonly believed that a computer's life is shortened by turning it on and off. This belief has led some people to leave their computers on all the time.
On the other hand, turning it off has advantages, too. Fans, hard drives, and picture tubes do wear out with constant use. And why even waste that $40 worth of energy? Plus, if an electrical storm strikes while your computer is on, the best-case scenario is that your surge protector dies -- the worst case, your whole computer is hosed.
Most experts agree that turning PC equipment off at night, or on and off a few times a day, will not appreciably affect its useful life. Modern drives are designed and tested to operate reliably for many thousands of hours, including thousands of on/off cycles.
The good news is that Macs and nearly all PCs are Energy Star-compliant. Sleep mode powers down your hard drive and monitor. When this happens both your monitor and computer consume only 30 watts of power. Energy Star computers last longer, cost you less, use less energy, and generate less heat. To find out more about Energy Star, visit the EPA's
Energy Star website.
Fine-tune Energy Star settings
If your computer is Energy Star-compliant, then you may need to make a few adjustments in order to set it up.
Follow these steps to fine-tune your Energy Star settings.
- Right-click the desktop and choose Properties.
- In the Display Properties window, select the Screen Saver tab.
- In the Energy Star section, click the button labeled Settings.
- You'll see you have the option of selecting three different "power schemes." Set the scheme to the option that fits your computer. Ultimately, it doesn't matter what you set in this field since it's just a list of preset settings.
- Set the time interval of inactivity required for your computer to go into "System standby" mode.
- Set the time interval of inactivity required for your monitor to turn itself off or go to sleep.
- Set the time interval of inactivity required for your hard drive to turn itself off or go to sleep.
- Click Apply.
- Click OK.
- Click OK.
