 Re: No sleep mode??
On Wed, 30 Apr 2008 18:44:46 -0400, "Bob Newman"
<bobnewman@cox.net> wrote:
>I have an inexpensive HP laptop (F730US)
>
>For various reasons I am considering leaving my laptop always on (sleep and
>hibernate modes turned off). My question is, if I do that would I be
>significantly reducing the life of my computer? Any other pluses or
>minuses?
>
>Thanks in advance... Bob
Depends on how you define life. If we ignored damage or
wear that comes from transportation and accidents like
dropping one, you should expect a similar number of running
hours if the load were the same. That's the same lifespan
in use, but not in calendar years.
For example if you left it sitting turned on 24/7 then after
a week you may have worn away as much of the lifespan as
some would put on it in several years time. On the other
hand after a few years those people would have to buy a new
battery since those degrade even if just sitting on a shelf.
I think the viability of leaving it on depends on how
important your reasons are for leaving it on. Desktops are
typically more reliable for total # of running hours, among
other things they tend to have higher quality PSU and better
cooling, as well as being less expensive to repair if they
ever did break. Laptop fan itself isn't likely to last a
long time if your use has it always running at moderate to
high RPM, and tight air passages make it all the more
important to regularly clean the dust out.
The plusses are that it's small and laptops by default tend
to have more power management options and features so it may
consume less power, lowering your energy bill and heating up
the room less. A desktop can be made towards the same end,
but most aren't since they aren't expected to run on
batteries except maybe a few minutes on an UPS during a
power outtage.
I suspect a laptop hard drive won't last for as many
spinning hours either, but I have no direct evidence of
this. If the use is a low write cycle scenario you might
try using a Compact Flash card as an SSD (if not a real SSD
due to cost constraints) instead of mechanical hard drive.
Ultimately unless you're really tight on space to store a
computer, the only thing the laptop necessarily has going
for it is that you already have it instead of possibly
having to buy another system to do the job.... though today
with multicore desktops, one might serve more roles without
as significant an impact on it's overall performance in it's
primary roles.
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