Should I never turn off my laptop computer?

Question

I have a Dell Inspiron 1200 laptop computer. I use it practically every 15 minutes for really small tasks like typinng Word documents and surfing the net. (By the way, I'm 15 years old and keep it in my room all day). I'm used to turning my computer on Standby when I'm done doing whatever I'm doing, but that gets a little annoying after the 99th time in one day. I keep my computer plugged into the power supply all the time. My computer is also usually kept in the exact same location all day long. Is there anything wrong with keeping my computer on for days on end? It would be much more efficient and convenient for me to just keep it on all the time. Would there be anything wrong with that?

Answer 1

no as long as it has plenty of ventilation under the laptop where the fan is i have a dell laptop as well and have had no problems with that and if u use it that much its actually bad to keep shutting it off or whatever then turning it back on

Answer 2

There's nothing particularly wrong with leaving your laptop on during the hours that you use it. If you've got it set to shut off the monitor after a couple hours of non-use; this is easy to bring back up. Even the hardrive set to standby is good after three or four hours of non-use. Both should come up quickly, unlike hibernation. But, do I assume that you turn it off when you are asleep or leave the house? This would problably be prudent.

My computer technician, IT trained and top rated, who I can't get hold of much lately because he's got a contract servicing bank ATM equipment, works night and day, wants me to leave my PC up 24 hours, says it's no harm and actually good for the harddrive. Seems there's actually some kind of oil encasing it and it's best to keep it warm. Cold start-up adds wear to the drives. Right now I have to leave it up since I've a problem he can't find with the start power supply. Everytime, it starts for him. Won't start for me. The PC is on a external power supply, UBS, for emergencies, a good idea I think, though I don't know what's available for a laptop.

Also, make sure that you are well protected with anti-virus, firewall, etc. when you leave your laptop on. You don't want an ugly surprise when you return to an unprotected system. Keep definitions, all updates, and subscriptions up to date, too.

I keep my notebook computer off when not in use but the power is always being charged. My tech says this helps maintain the battery life, and should be connected to power even when I'm using it, unless, of course, on an airplane, or someplace power's not available. So keep power on and rest easy. I don't use the notebook as much as I do the PC.

Answer 3

Well a 1200 probably has a Celeron processor - which is known to kind of burn hot. Typically I keep my desktop on 24/7 as well as my laptop - but it does 'go to sleep' after 10 minutes or so. Personally I wouldn't recommend keeping it on all of the time - also make sure that you put it on some 'furniture pads' or something to keep it from sitting flat. The little legs on it really aren't high enough. Get a couple of furniture pads and lift it off the table about 1/2 inch - it will add life to your computer.

Your computer really should go into sleep mode - after 5 minutes or so - you set that in your "control panel/Power" options. Once you set it there, you're computer will automagically go to sleep until you use the mouse. DON'T enable hibernate - it can lead to some problems.

Answer 4

if you keep the DELL laptop on all the time and plug in to the power when your away from home you should not keep it on all the time when you are goin to sleep or out put it off and unplug the power to it or
Another Dell Laptop Goes BOOM
Well this is starting to get ridiculous

On the heels of last month's Dell-laptop-turned-into-tower-of-flames comes a new story, with a bunch of scary, scary pictures.
a hole burned right through the base of the notebook.

Unfortunately there's not much of a story to go along with the pictures. The laptop was sitting on a desk (closed), then it's suddenly on fire. The resulting chaos required the fire department to be called and the building cleared.

The poster also relates a pretty awesome story about the aftermath (and I fixed the spelling): The engineer whose laptop it had been ... heard there was a fire and that we all had to go outside. Being the noble engineer that he is, he quickly wanted to grab his laptop!

Whoops.

Still no response from Dell on these issues aside from a vague "we're looking into it."

http://tech.yahoo.com/blog/null/1559;_ylt=A9j8aGrkPRdFzRIBXDUnLpA5

Answer 5

All digital factors placed on out over the years. working the laptop 24/7 is going to reason extra placed on on the difficultpersistent and followers especially. that is impossible to be attentive to if the laptop could have a failure in the previous you decide on for to retire it nevertheless, if its 4 years previous that is in all probability nearing the tip of its useful life. you additionally can smash laptop batteries by ability of in no way permitting them to discharge. that could be a sturdy concept to unplug the ac adapter especially situations and enable the battery run down. counting on the working equipment you're making use of you will possibly be waiting to apply the hibernation characteristic which suspends the laptop and saves the courses that have been working.

Answer 6

a computer is kind of like a person. it needs its sleep and u should shut it down every once in a while or else it may shut down by it self or if u go on to the internet it will be laggy as hell, which isnt fun. i would say just shut it down it is good to give ur computer a break because it might even burn the motor out and then u r stuck with no computer.

Answer 7

I keep mine on and only turn it off every once and awhile, like if i'm staying at a friends house and i know I wont be using it. Also, turning it off and on again all the time uses more power then just leaving it on. hope that helps.

Answer 8

at the least you should let it go into hibernate after a certain period of time, that way hard drive stops its regular movement....as well al compnents get a break.....but restarting your computer every once and a while will reload your programs into memory.....little minor problems(or big ones) will get reset

Answer 9

i do the same thing although i do occasionally turn it off cause i have the same worries, i have no side effects though, make sure you turn your screen off though, you dont want to burn it out, and at least let it go itno standby, when it can. and why arent you in school?

Answer 10

I have a laptop ...and i leave it on when i leave the house and go to work and places....
i do turn it off sometimes.... and nothing happens and b4 the laptop i would always leave my desktop on and it still works fine... so i dont thnk you should worry