Is it alright to ALWAYS use sleep mode instead of shutting down?

El_Mayo · Jun 15, 2009

I have a vista laptop
i find vista and it's superior sleep mode very convenient.. but is there a downside to using sleep mode all the time?

DrPepper · Jun 15, 2009

Uses more power than when its off. All I can think of.

enaher · Jun 15, 2009

DrPepper said:
Uses more power than when its off. All I can think of.

Thats about it... mmm I do recall reading in a forum about this guy's laptop "woke up'' in his bag and the thing almost started a fire :laugh:

richardbel · Jun 15, 2009

yes this is the most misconception that it saves electricity...

n-ster · Jun 15, 2009

I do it all the time... It can damage your battery by making it discharge a little and then you plug it in when it is not fully discharged... My laptop's battery time is now only 1 hour because of this and only after 3 years

newtekie1 · Jun 15, 2009

I don't really think there is anything wrong with always using sleep. However, I've found that my laptop likes to be shutdown and restarted about once a week, if I just use sleep for too long it tends to start to run slower than normal.

As for power usage, when my laptop is asleep it doesn't even register as drawing power using my power usage meter, meaning it is drawing less than 1w of power. Shutting it down might use less, but the different would be next to nothing. I don't think it would make a difference in battery life.

n-ster said:
I do it all the time... It can damage your battery by making it discharge a little and then you plug it in when it is not fully discharged... My laptop's battery time is now only 1 hour because of this and only after 3 years

Modern Lithium-Ion laptop batteries do not suffer from this problem. However, they do have shelf lives which are pretty independent of useage.

El_Mayo · Jun 15, 2009

oh okay
so it's fine for me to keep doing it

KainXS · Jun 15, 2009

actually it can but its kinda rare, one time I left my laptop on sleep for a while, like 2 days and came back to, I don't know how but the voltage backed into the circuitry from the battery and the laptop would not turn on, it just made a ticking sound, I had to let all the power deplete from it to get it to turn back on and that took hours without the battery in.

but this rarely happens, I still do it lol

System Name	N/A
Processor	i7-4790K
Motherboard	Asus Z97-A
Cooling	Thermalright True Power 140
Memory	2 x 8GB GeIL Potenza 2400Mhz
Video Card(s)	MSI GTX 970 Gaming
Storage	2TB Seagate Barracuda
Display(s)	24" Samsung 1080p LED Monitor
Case	Phanteks Enthoo Pro
Power Supply	Corsair TX650W
Mouse	Logitech MX518
Keyboard	Corsair K70 (Brown MX)
Software	Windows 8.1

System Name	Rusky
Processor	Intel Core i7 D0 3.8Ghz
Motherboard	Asus P6T
Cooling	Thermaltake Dark Knight
Memory	12GB Patriot Viper's 1866mhz 9-9-9-24
Video Card(s)	GTX470 1280MB
Storage	OCZ Summit 60GB + Samsung 1TB + Samsung 2TB
Display(s)	Sharp Aquos L32X20E 1920 x 1080
Case	Silverstone Raven RV01
Power Supply	Corsair 650 Watt
Software	Windows 7 x64
Benchmark Scores	3DMark06 - 18064 http://img.techpowerup.org/090720/Capture002.jpg

System Name	One does not simply have enough cash for INTEL
Processor	Athlon II 450 3.8ghz
Motherboard	Gigabyte 990FX-UD3
Cooling	Cooler Master 212+
Memory	4x4gb Corsair DDR3
Video Card(s)	2x 5830 Sapphire 950c/1150m CF
Storage	2x Seagate 500GB Raid0 + Samsung 1TB
Display(s)	BenQ G2220HDA
Case	Xigmatek ASGARD PRO
Power Supply	SeasonicX 750w
Software	W7 x64 Ultimate

System Name	Homelabs
Processor	Ryzen 5900x \| Ryzen 1920X
Motherboard	Asus ProArt x570 Creator \| AsRock X399 fatal1ty gaming
Cooling	Silent Loop 2 280mm \| Dark Rock Pro TR4
Memory	128GB (4x32gb) DDR4 3600Mhz \| 128GB (8x16GB) DDR4 2933Mhz
Video Card(s)	EVGA RTX 3080 \| ASUS Strix GTX 970
Storage	Optane 900p + NVMe \| Optane 900p + 8TB SATA SSDs + 48TB HDDs
Display(s)	Alienware AW3423dw QD-OLED \| HP Omen 32 1440p
Case	be quiet! Dark Base Pro 900 rev 2 \| be quiet! Silent Base 800
Power Supply	Corsair RM750x + sleeved cables\| EVGA P2 750W
Mouse	Razer Viper Ultimate (still has buttons on the right side, crucial as I'm a southpaw)
Keyboard	Razer Huntsman Elite, Pro Type \| Logitech G915 TKL

Processor	Intel Core i7 10850K@5.2GHz
Motherboard	AsRock Z470 Taichi
Cooling	Corsair H115i Pro w/ Noctua NF-A14 Fans
Memory	32GB DDR4-3600
Video Card(s)	RTX 2070 Super
Storage	500GB SX8200 Pro + 8TB with 1TB SSD Cache
Display(s)	Acer Nitro VG280K 4K 28"
Case	Fractal Design Define S
Audio Device(s)	Onboard is good enough for me
Power Supply	eVGA SuperNOVA 1000w G3
Software	Windows 10 Pro x64

Is it alright to ALWAYS use sleep mode instead of shutting down?

El_Mayo

DrPepper

The Doctor is in the house

enaher

New Member

richardbel

New Member

n-ster

newtekie1

Semi-Retired Folder

El_Mayo

KainXS

Processor	AMD Ryzen 9 5950x, Ryzen 9 5980HX
Motherboard	MSI X570 Tomahawk
Cooling	Be Quiet Dark Rock Pro 4(With Noctua Fans)
Memory	32Gb Crucial 3600 Ballistix
Video Card(s)	Gigabyte RTX 3080, Asus 6800M
Storage	Adata SX8200 1TB NVME/WD Black 1TB NVME
Display(s)	Dell 27 Inch 165Hz
Case	Phanteks P500A
Audio Device(s)	IFI Zen Dac/JDS Labs Atom+/SMSL Amp+Rivers Audio
Power Supply	Corsair RM850x
Mouse	Logitech G502 SE Hero
Keyboard	Corsair K70 RGB Mk.2
VR HMD	Samsung Odyssey Plus
Software	Windows 10