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General discussion

Laptops- keep them on when not in use?

Jan 12, 2005 4:17AM PST

Does turning a laptop on many times a day hurt it? I usually turn it off when I'm done but then someone else will need it in an hour and I'm not sure if it's bad for the thing to keep being turned on and off or not. Can I get some opinions? Thanks.

Discussion is locked

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On/Of
Jan 12, 2005 4:47AM PST

I think it's better for a laptop and other computers to be constantly on.

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Save hard drive but don't leave it on 24 hours a day either
Jan 12, 2005 5:26AM PST

Hard drives for years have had something called a MTBF (mean time between failures) rating. The more you restart the notebook and reboot the notebook the harder it will be on it.

Thus, if you will be using it within a short time try to use the hibernation or other power management settings (to keep in from completely shutting down) or leave it on.

However, LCD's have a fixed period of time before you burn out the backlight or other components and also if you leave it on all the time you may foul up the cooling system inside (too much dust in heat sink, etc).

So, I would not leave it on all the time but I would not shut it down more than once or twice a day.

Again, most notebooks now have two modes (sleep is shorter term, Hibernation is longer term) where it will shut down the LCD to protect that (and save much of the power use also) but allow the notebook to wake up quickly (in sleep mode) or in much less time than a full boot up (in hibernation mode).

So check those out. If you are downloading virus protection, etc overnight then of course schedule that and leave the notebook on for those functions but I would not leave it on 24 hours a day.

And, I don't want to pay the utility bill for that either !

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Hard drives almost consumable -- Consider other components
Jan 12, 2005 5:31AM PST

I consider other components than the hard drive when answering this question. LCDs, as Ken mentioned, have a limited life, they also dim over time.

So you want the LCD to sleep even when the computer's running.

But Fans, RAM, and even CPUs have a life cycle that eventually ends.

Hard drives are so inexpensive, and are the second-most-often upgraded component (next to RAM), that I don't consider the failure of a hard drive 6 months or even a year before I expect it a big deal. I have a 40 GB hard drive in my notebook, that runs at 5400 RPM. I'll want an 80GB, 7200 RPM in 12-18 months anyway.

So I don't have too much pity on the hard drive. I hibernate regularly since this lets the CPU, fans, and RAM rest as well.

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Be sure to read the discussion at
Jan 12, 2005 6:05AM PST
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thanks
Jan 12, 2005 12:58PM PST

Thanks so much- I've been mistreating mine for about a year, so it sounds... what about overheating? Won't constant 'on' hurt it? And how do you get sleep settings?

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Look in Control panel for options
Jan 12, 2005 1:15PM PST

If you have your notebook set to laptop - efficiency in the Control panel it should already be on. if you have the notebook set up as a desktop or maximum power then you would never go into sleep or hibernate modes.

In control panel you can also set up how long you want the dormant period before your screen saver comes on or you go into sleep mode (LCD off but hard drive still partially active) or hibernate mode (LCD and hard drive both off but still faster to restart then full off mode).