Laptop - Power On or Off

[DocWatson]

My eightteen year old is off to college with her new laptop and she and I are at odds about her habit of leaving the machine powered up and running 24/7. While I do this with my desktop systems, I believe that it is not a good practice with a laptop due to the heat generated by a laptop and have asked her to please turn the system off when it is not in use, or at least close the lid, effectively powering it down until she needs to use it again. Her response is that all her friends do it and they don't have any problems. These are all recent high school grads who recieved their laptops as graduation gifts (read college necessities) over the summer and apparently know more about the inner workings of a computer than I do. She has agreed to abide by the advice I receive from the members of the Lounge. So advise already !!! <img src=/S/help.gif border=0 alt=help width=23 height=15>

[StuartR]

I regularly leave mine on overnight, and it's usually OK (now that I have found the BIOS update that fixed the power/temperature management problem).

Sometimes I accidentally leave a book or similar too near the side where the hot exhaust air comes out - this leads to a very hot laptop which crashes!

StuartR

[Leif]

I'm strictly 24/7 with desktops, but my inclination is to go for at least standby after a short period with laptops - as much as the heat I have an uncomfortable feeling about the lifespan of laptop screens and hard drives.

As laptops at colleges probably have a high incidence of wandering, I'd also look into personalising the log-in screen - there was a recent thread about this. Anything to identify the owner on boot-up may save a few tears.

[DaveA]

We keep out desktops AND laptops all running 7/24.
We have the laptops "raised' a bit to allow more air to flow under it.
Also keep the "clutter" away from around the laptop.

[cbaldrey]

I've left my personal laptop on over night, for days in a row numerous times over the past three years. I've not had a problem (yet!) thus far. I have previously setup the LCD to turnoff after x minutes o inactivity, saving the pixels / etc from excessive wear-and-tear.

Depending on the brand / model / loaded software, she may be able to throttle-back the screen brightness, and / or CPU speeds after x minutes to help out too.

[bigaldoc]

I share Leif's concern on this one, Doc. I would opt for turning OFF a laptop when not in use, as my son and I are the victims of TWO belly-up laptop screens. The Gateway cost to replace the screens was pretty high. Both our machines were used heavily but we did turn 'em off at night and in spite of that we had screen failures. By the way, in addition to physical security, there's also the question of online security for a machine in a university environment. I'm sure you've made sure her machine includes a good software firewall, but I still wouldn't want (or recommend) leaving a machine turned on AND connected to the school's network.

[DocWatson]

AL, Chris, Dave Leif & Stuart,

Thanks for the replies. <img src=/S/smile.gif border=0 alt=smile width=15 height=15> I've forwarded the email notifications along to my daughter so that she can make her own informed decision.

My concern was more for the hardware. Even though I purchased Dell's full repair or replacement insurance for 3 years on the machine, I'd be less than happy if she did something preventable out of sheer laziness or neglect. The security issues (both physical and online) I've left in her hands. She's an adult now and responsible for her own life. I've counseled her as much as she will allow and given her the means to protect herself online (firewall) and on the streets (Mace) and now have armed her with the best advice on this issue as well. That's about all we can do as parents once they have grown up. <img src=/S/shrug.gif border=0 alt=shrug width=39 height=15>