Do you shutdown your computer and unplug it when not in use? Or put it in sleep mode? which is best?

I just got an xps m1530 and wondered if you, like I have been doing, shutdown your computer at night and unplug it? Or would it be easier on the computer to just always leave it plugged in and have it enter in to sleep mode when not in use?

 

i don't have a m1530, but as a general rule of thumb, i keep my computer plugged in all the time as there's really no harm in doing so. i put my computer to sleep when i'm not using it and only restart when updates require me to.

 

I just usually put them in sleep mode one I leave plugged in and the other is just put in sleep mode on battery, I haven't had any issues with doing this.

 

I usually keep my computers plugged it, then in sleep mode when I will be gone for longer periods or when I am asleep.

 

Shutdown and unplug it.Why stress the adapter when not needed?

 

Usually always plugged in at home, maybe sleep if I'm going somewhere for a few hours. I hibernate overnight. At school, sleep if changing classes or hibernate if putting it away.

 

Does it really stress the adapter? I've heard that shutting down the computer and turning it on is worse, and takes much more power than simply aways leaving it on and leaving it in hibernate or sleep mode.

 

Just to get something straight, since I've never had a laptop I'm confused... is hibernating when you just have it plugged in but turned off... and is sleeping when it's pluggin in, turned on, but lid-closed? Thanks guys.

~B

 

I only ever turn mine off/restart if required for updates/installs. Other than that, Sleep if I know i'll be back soon, but more often Hibernate.


I like having lots of battery.

 

sleep is with the laptop still on, but most things power-down (screen, processor, etc.). this saves power, and lets you resume working pretty much as soon as you open the lid, but it will still drain your battery.

hibernate on the other hand saves whatever you were doing (open programs, etc.) to a file on the hard-disk, and then completely shuts down. next time you turn on, it automatically loads the saved file, and you can resume as if you never left. the advantages are it doesn't use up any battery life at all, and it's quicker than fully restarting (but much longer than sleep).

 

Just a word of advice, though yes you can sleep and hibernate, shutting down is always a good thing. Keeping your laptop plugged into the outlet is fine, seriously the adapter has no detrimental effect on your laptop, though Im not sure if a lightning strike will help it, but at any rate, it is always a good habit to shut down your computer when your not using it for a long period of time.

There are computers at my workplace where co-workers tend to like to leave their computers on, but lock them at the end of the day and continue using it the next day without having to reboot, though over time, those very systems are much more likely to crash than systems that are shut down.

Think of it like sleeping. You have to go to bed to be healthy the next day. You can't just sit in front of your computer and rest your head on the table and expect to get the same result. Sure you might still be able to carry on in the morning, but in the long run, people who sleep in bed are better off than people sleeping at their desks.

 

I don't know if anyone else has found this? But my 1530 has given me the blue screen of death a couple of times when coming out of hibernation, and - with the upgrade to Vista - I also managed to get a shiny new black screen of death when coming out of sleep... Which gives shutting down an advantage...

Hoping it's an old USB device connected to it (I've removed anything unnecessary). I tend to prefer to hibernate - as has been said, no battery use, but loads where you were before... Though if the BSOD persists, this may be a problem

 

So when you hibernate, it must be plugged in to save where u left off? Or can you hibernate for days unplugged? If so, it seems like hibernating is pretty much the same exact thing as shutting off the laptop.. heh, im confused.

 

It shuts down the laptop, but saves the current state. You can hibernate unplugged. E.g. I might be working in the library taking notes from a book on Friday, hibernate my laptop, and then turn it on again on Monday to have the document I'm using for notes come up again

 

lmao.. what a fruity analogy. you do realize these aren't living organisms right?

 

like with my desktop, i'll usually leave it on minus the monitor unless i know i will be away for more than 24 hours.

wear & tear is primarily caused by powering up & down + the fluctuations in temperature when a computer is on and allowed to cool down when off. keeping metal parts from expanding and contracting when this happens to a minimum is better for it in the long run, that's why i leave mine on most of the time.

 

I leave my system plugged in 24/7 (Battery out though and stored at ~ 40%) because I run torrents constantly. I have 262 days of total combined running time and 4 TB uploaded/downloaded, so yeah, kinda need to leave my system on for that.

 

So is "hybernation" considered off then? I just don't understand what the point is of completely shutting down if hybernation is the same thing and it will save where you left off... I'm so confused hehe.

 

No duh! Its concept.

 

So while in hibernate mode, the computer loses no power, and one could essentially use this as an alternative to shutting off the computer completely and unplug the ac adapter?

 

that unfortunately has no basis in reality... computers don't need sleep to function properly.

 

I use sleep mode most of the time.

 

sleeping in bed = turning off the computer

Computers obviously don't sleep in bed. If you are at a workplace or have the opportunity, try it yourself. Use one computer and keep it on all the time, occasionally sleep it. Use the second and shut it down after each use. You will notice performance-wise, the one that is always on will gradually become much slower and slower than the one that is always shut off after each use.

Of course its not immediately noticable at first, and hardware is getting more and more solid to last longer, you WILL notice it sooner or later.

 

i have an 8 year old computer that for the most part has been on 24/7, other than the occasional reboot and a utility to reclaim RAM it's performance has been the same. the only reason why anything might be slower is because software and technology in general progresses.

earlier i made a case for leaving your computer on, other than more anecdotes that sound like wives' tales, exactly what process is happening that degrades performance if you leave a computer on all the time?

ETA: does the processor's brain cells need downtime to rest and regenerate?

 

I read somewhere that when you close your laptop lid, it will go into "sleep/stand-by" mode, is this true with the m1530? Or do you have to hit start and go to turn off- sleep- and then close the lid? What about hibernation? Because I also read that after like a half hour it will go into hibernation, is that true? Thanks again =D

 

Plugged in most of the time, and usually *sleep mode*

 

I never shut down my systems, though I usually have the monitors turn off when I am away.

 

Sleep mode!!

 

I hibernate and unplug to help save the battery.

 

Forte,

While you may be correct with XP and other older Windows operating systems, evidence shows that Vista, especially 64-bit, does not degrade in performance by leaving it on. It uses so much caching and prefetching that system performance remains the same, or improves slightly, the longer it's on (With a ceiling at some point, it's not an infinite linear progression). This is of course assuming you have adequate hardware to run it properly, which most do.

 

All depends on your settings in the Vista notebook/laptop settings control panel thingy. You can make it stand by when you close it, you can make it shutdown when you close it, you can make it do nothing when you close it. There's quite a lot of options. Hibernation also depends on your settings. You can set it do go into Hibernation after 1/2 hour if you want.

 

I remember my laptop running Windows 98 and how the clock would slow down if I left it on for a few days. It got horrendously slow.

 

I remember my Windows 98 machine needing regular reboots. and the fan on my voodoo card broke, so I had a house fan blowing on it for a year.

 

I always shut down and unplug (laptop)/ off powerstrip (desktop) (but I only use my computers a couple of hours per day.)

 

A properly designed computer does not need any sleep at all. In fact, I even design and modify computers to operate 24/7 at full load (for Folding@Home).

The battery, however, would last longer if not kept on float charge. In fact, avoid complete charges and discharges to maximize service life. (The batteries in some electric cars like the Prius are used in that way for reliability.) I generally charge the battery for an hour or two just before going to class. At the end of the day, the battery is not charged if it is still above 40% (which translates to every time), or charged up to 40% if it is below. It is charged to roughly 90% the next morning. Between classes, charge the battery if you can, unless you know the laptop is not going to be used for the rest of the day.