Should you turn off your computer at night?

Mike · Oct 16, 2009

The answer may not be so simple... but here's what Microsoft says:

Link Removed

cybercore · Oct 16, 2009

This is quite curious, I reason if one's PC stays totally off the power all night then the electricity consumption is definitely less than that with a pc on or hibernated. Especially if one sums up those watts over 365 nights, year after year. It is also a good idea that hardware rests at night too, including the neon lights. So whenever possible turn your PCs off.

reghakr · Oct 16, 2009

I don't, but should as I leave my computers, around 750watts total, my home theater receiver, 650 watts at idle and sometimes fall asleep with the TV on.

needless to say my electric bills are always over $100.00 per month.

tblount · Oct 16, 2009

My pc doubles as my heater. I have to leve it on now that the temp falls in the 40's at night. A cpu is hotter than the surface of the sun.

10 % of the nation's energy consumption is wasted by standby or "leaking" electricityby tv's vcr's cable boxes, rechargers etc that are turned OFF but left plugged in. Think about it.. your tv MUST already be ON if you can press a remote power button to make it fully come on.

Standby Power

reghakr · Oct 16, 2009

That is true, you should pull the plugs on the devices themselves.

Completely turns them off.

tblount · Oct 18, 2009

California Moving Forward With Big-Screen TV Power Restrictions

from Link Removed by Soulskill

Hugh Pickens writes "The Los Angeles Times reports that California regulators are poised to pass the nation's first ban on energy-hungry big-screen televisions just as they did with refrigerators, air conditioners and dozens of other products since the 1970s

tblount · Oct 18, 2009

Sonar Software Detects Laptop User Presence

from Link Removed by timothy

Steve Tarzia writes "A research group at Northwestern University and University of Michigan has released open-source display power-management software that uses a new user presence detection technique. The goal is to shut off the display immediately when the user leaves the computer rather than using slow and error-prone mouse/keyboard activity timeouts

RAK · Oct 18, 2009

Most electronic appliances, operated by a remote control, (at least in my house ) have also, an on/off switch on the device itself. The switch would always be wired between the first electonic component and the house power. These are the switches I use if the equipment is intended to be off for a long time.
Having done that, it would serve no useful power saving function to unplug the device also.
Any argument which supports a view that hibernating, for example, saves more electricity than simple switching off, is ridiculous. However, on my own testing, the power drain in Windows 7, when hibernating, is extremely low to a point where, switching off for, say, only a couple of hours, would be a wasted execise. With modern equipment, I would not imagine that the sudden surge when switching on from cold, has any damaging effect.

Kylethedarkn · Oct 18, 2009

I wish I had a Remote Control that Turned off Power Outlets rather then devices themselves.

cybercore · Oct 18, 2009

I have outlets in a plastic case on my computer table and one near my TV, quite convenient to turn things on and off.

reghakr · Oct 18, 2009

There are controls out there that will do that. One is made by Crestron.

Turning the power completely off on the PC is a good idea, because it clears all the RAM and the programs that run in task Manager all the time even if the monitor is on standby..

You can turn the monitor of completely, but it's still drawing power because it's still plugged into an outlet

Highwayman · Oct 18, 2009

I suppose it also depends on how long the PC is likely to not be in use, for example if I head to bed at 2am and my missus gets up at 3-4am then turning the pc off wouldn't be good idea.

cybercore · Oct 18, 2009

reghakr said:
There are controls out there that will do that. One is made by Crestron.

Good stuff.

reghakr said:
You can turn the monitor of completely, but it's still drawing power because it's still plugged into an outlet

Mine is a plastic case with 7 outlets that you can control each seperately, on or off, and you can also shut them all off at once by one button. I assume if the monitor is plugged in an outlet which is off, the monitor is completely off.

reghakr · Oct 18, 2009

A toaster is an good example.

For those that think the power is completely off, take a line tester and touch both inserts and you'll find it's live.

cybercore · Oct 18, 2009

Fun Drew, I normally use just that 1 red button to turn the whole thing off.

cybercore · Oct 18, 2009

reghakr said:
A toaster is an good example.

For those that think the power is completely off, take a line tester and touch both inserts and you'll find it's live.

Sure, that outlet case will be taking some electricity. I mean sometimes I turn off my monitor or sound outlet when have to leave the computer on for a couple of hours, but normally I shut down everything and turn off the outlet case too. Same with my home theater.

epk1950 · Oct 19, 2009

what ya think about the electric bill for these guys...

kemical · Oct 19, 2009

I always unplug everything....... It's just a waste to leave anything plugged in, plus the less I have to give the power supplier means there's more in my pocket....

Oh.....then there's the 'small' matter of the planet going tits up....

reghakr · Oct 19, 2009

kemical said:
Oh.....then there's the 'small' matter of the planet going tits up....

Very well put

kemical · Oct 19, 2009

reghakr said:
Very well put

Thanks....some things just have to be said!

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