Being constantly connected to our tech, some devices just stay on. Like our iPhone, for instance. Counting on it to wake us up in the morning, than be ready for calls and emails all day, means keeping it powered on 24 hours a day. We know folks who treat their computers the same way. How often do you power down your main machine?
For the better part of the day, our computer is on and sleeping. But we rarely shut it down completely. Just hitting the hot corner for sleep is much quicker, and leaves our main machine ready for us anytime we need it (without waiting for a boot up time).
But we're re-thinking our strategy after considering it's effect on our utility bill. Reader's Digest shows us that if we won't be using our machine for more than 2 hours, we should shut it down completely. Of course, you readers myth-busted RD's previous power-saving estimates in this post, so who knows what the real figures look like.
In any case, we know we could probably shave a bit off our power bill by shutting down the computer when we're headed for bed at the end of the night.
What about you? Do you shut down your computer when you hit the sheets? Does your machine stay on 24/7? Tell us in the comments!
(Images: Flickr member ºDaines licensed for use under Creative Commons, Flickr member chrisjagers licensed for use under Creative Commons)
The Roeders' Modern Life is Beautiful 
How To Keep Your Bathroom Clean In 5 Minutes A Day
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Shopping for Ice Cream Makers: 5 Models We've Reviewed
How to Cook Moist & Tender Chicken Breasts Every Time
Comments (16)
My computer goes into sleep mode any time I leave the house, or go to bed. I keep too much crap open to deal with shutdowns. Shutdowns are when I know I'll be gone for the weekend.
Hibernation!
I shutdown my computer almost every night, not only for the power savings, but also because the computers run better after being shutdown. My browsers reopen the same tabs I was viewing when I shutdown, and all other programs I use daily automatically open at startup, so it's not a hassle to restart.
i often have a lot of things running as well. i only shutdown for extended periods of being gone or if it seems like the computer is pissed and it wants a restart.
i should click off the powerstrip on the router and cable modem every night though, that wouldn't be a problem. I often forget that one even on trips
I never shut my Mac mini down unless I'm transporting it or restarting it for an update, but I do make sure my monitors are off if I'm stepping out, since monitors are still massive power drains. The mini draws so little power when its idling that the hassle of booting up isn't worth the savings from shutting it down, plus I use it as my alarm clock (nothing wakes me up quite as well as having to remember how to type my password in the morning) and I routinely have things running at night.
I shut mine down completely at night, else all the lights in the case illuminate the room like Times Square and keep me up.
I carry a Macbook Pro from home to work, and the only times I shut it off are for updates and when it hits major memory weirdness (like this morning). Don't know if I'm more lazy or impatient.
Sam I Am - Me too.
I keep mine up 24/7. The hard drives and everything shutdown, so minimal power use, the start up if something needs to run during the night. otherwise sleep mode, snore. Lights i don't worry about as it's enclosed in my desk, with the airflow in the back open.
I have a macbook and i never turn it off except as mentioned for the random software update restart. I carry it around with me, and when i need to go, i just close the lid. At night i don't close the lid, i just have it shut off the screen after 15 minutes of inactivity, and to spin down the hard disk after 1 hour.
For Desktop: I leave my computer on but have my screen and hard-drives turn off after a period of time. If going out I put it to sleep, however I'm not a fan of using sleep-mode over night (resume in the morning) which a lot of people do as my machine performs better during a fresh boot as it's essentially reflushing the RAM and cache and also reloads start-up apps which may have been closed in previous sessions.
For Netbook: Because I use my netbook for casual browsing multiple times a day, I'll simply close the lid after each use which puts the machine to sleep. I'll only ever shut it down completely if I'm travelling long distances or won't be using it. I'll do the same with a laptop.
I shut everything down (work and home) every night.
I always shut down my laptop when going to bed. However, if I do keep it on, is the problem only with utility bills?
I'd like to know if it impacts the laptop in anyway, if I keep it switched on for days.
My desktop Mac is shut down every night when I got to bed. During the day it goes into sleep mode when I'm not using it.
My laptop and netbook are put into hibernation. The difference simply comes down to power - the laptops have their own batteries if they are in hibernation, whilst the Mac has to remain plugged in during hibernation.
To save power I shut my computer off whenever I step away for more than an hour. Leaving it on just seems like leaving a room lit when you're away... why do it?
The desktops are off when not used and the tablets in sleep mode.