Leaving Ts on?

Message

Guest · #1 Post by **Guest** » Thu Jun 24, 2004 12:36 am

Recently read about this in other postss but would like to hear about the T4s or just notebooks experts in general on this site. What kind of stuff happens or not happen when you leave your laptop on for days or turn it off and on regularly. I am a college student so I do plan on having it on for at least a day. I know many of you all are business users so you shut it down more regularly but what are the pros and cons. For some reason I don' think it is that big of a deal.

Flightvector · #2 Post by **Flightvector** » Thu Jun 24, 2004 1:30 am

I would agree that it really is not highly tangible whether it is good or not when considering adverse effects outside of outright failure. The premise is that turning on and off a lot causes heat strain fatigue. It is near impossible to test for this practically, but I know that the load on the HDD causing issues is as plausible as CPU heat strain failure. I have turned my computers off daily for years, even in college, and I can tell you I have never seen any issues (never had HDD failure, no observed breakdowns of any kind, performance has not changed). But then again, I am not sacrificing any of my needs by doing this. I am 100% sure if you talk in terms of absolute CPU longevity, heat strain fatigue will cause failure, but normal uses would likely never even approach half the absolute life of CPUs. Servers operate all day and are perfectly fine too; your needs should dictate usage, not the premise of heat strain. I still lean towards not leaving it on, restarts are needed every so often.

Also, it veritably could cost more when you consider the power costs than any possible damage leaving a computer on would cause. So the tradeoff (not considering practicality/convenience) is:

On 24/7 - Pros: -Better absolute CPU, chipset life
Cons: -Hardware components (HDD, LCD etc...) receive more wear
-Power costs

cynic · #3 Post by **cynic** » Thu Jun 24, 2004 4:12 am

I've left my T40p on months at a time without restarts (I'm talking not even standby or hibernate.) A few of those months I ran it with SETI@home (which means the processor usage was at 100% the whole time) and many times I ran it with the screen closed. 1yr 3months later, still runs like a dream. I only restart when necessary for software installs these days.

#4 Post by **JaneL** » Thu Jun 24, 2004 6:40 am

I have a T23 that ran SETI@Home 24x7 for nearly 2 years. I switched over to the BOINC project a couple of months ago, and it's still running strong. Typing this message to you on it now.

I also have a 600X that ran SETI for over 2 years. The only reason it isn't still running 24x7 is that I loaned it to one of my relatives a relative's house a few months ago and haven't picked it up yet. Before it was retired in favor of the T23, the 600X lived in a docking station with the lid closed when I was working.

I do have the power settings set to turn the screens off after about 5 minutes.

Guest · #5 Post by **Guest** » Sat Jun 26, 2004 12:50 am

Yeah thanks just wanted to know. Was not planning on leaving it on more than two days anyway. I actually might turn it off more. At school we are connected to the sever all the time off cours,e and many of the viruses I have gotten have been while I was out in class not when downloading music or anything like that so now that I think about it I will keep it off. But there maybe times I want to download some music. At the same time I will have a faster computer by fall i may be able to do stuff right away.

Deb Suran · #6 Post by **Deb Suran** » Sat Jun 26, 2004 12:17 pm

There does seem to be an issue with some backlights getting dim over time, I have observed this in several older 7nn and A models in my posession but don't know if it remains a concern, nevertheless I do set my screen to shut off after 10 minutes of inactivity to play it safe.

pete0r · #7 Post by **pete0r** » Sat Jun 26, 2004 12:24 pm

this is great, i was thinking about putting gentoo linux on it and it seriously takes 2 days for a full from scratch install.. last laptop i had i did that and it overheated and messed up the power connector.. crappy acers1

Nabeel · #8 Post by **Nabeel** » Sun Jun 27, 2004 6:27 pm

Yeah, there's not too many moving parts, so I wouldn't expect too much wear. I've left my T42 on for days at a time so far, no problems at all.

Hangfire · #9 Post by **Hangfire** » Sun Jun 27, 2004 6:57 pm

I've left my old SCSI desktop on 24/7 for the last 4+ years with no problems. I still use it for music applications.

My HPzt1175 notebook is off and on everyday at least 4 or 5 times for the last two years with no problems.

I don't think it really matters one way or the other. JMO

Txiasaeia · #10 Post by **Txiasaeia** » Sun Jun 27, 2004 9:20 pm

friend of mine got a P133 back in 1995. used it as a primary system for four years, then switched it over to a server for five years. It's still running strong.

Chobits · #11 Post by **Chobits** » Sun Jun 27, 2004 9:37 pm

Hi! T41p left on for 4 weeks and had no major heat problems. Unlike my poor old retired Dell Inspiron 8200 mobo got fried

Cheers

Guest · #12 Post by **Guest** » Sun Jun 27, 2004 11:44 pm

Thanks guys. Nothing to worry about if i I leave it on for a few days
except viruses since my college is pretty busy

CokeBear · #13 Post by **CokeBear** » Mon Jun 28, 2004 12:20 am

It seems to be manufacture specific. I left my previous T20 on months on end without any problems. However I left my Dell on for only one month and now it has too many problems to count. The Dell now has heat problems and the HD constantly seeks without cause.

Bottom line, don't sweat it for a thinkpad. But think twice for a Dell.

Leon · #14 Post by **Leon** » Sat Jul 03, 2004 11:16 pm

However, bad for the battery... from batteryuniversity.com

The question is often asked if one should disconnect the laptop from the main when not in use. With lithium-ion it does not matter. Once the battery is fully charged, no further charge is applied. It is recommenced, however, to turn the laptop off overnight because of heat harms the battery.

Chobits · #15 Post by **Chobits** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 4:47 am

Hi! I was thinking in terms of leaving the T41p on for weeks with the battery taken out.

Cheers~

#16 Post by **K. Eng** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 7:17 am

I don't think the T4x needs to have the battery removed. The hot or warm spots on the machine are: CPU, HDD, WiFi card, none of which are near the battery.

Leon wrote:However, bad for the battery... from batteryuniversity.com

The question is often asked if one should disconnect the laptop from the main when not in use. With lithium-ion it does not matter. Once the battery is fully charged, no further charge is applied. It is recommenced, however, to turn the laptop off overnight because of heat harms the battery.

Leon · #17 Post by **Leon** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 7:59 am

but, if left on for weeks at a time, the battery WILL get warm from it'd recharge cycles......

Chobits · #18 Post by **Chobits** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 8:33 am

Leon wrote:but, if left on for weeks at a time, the battery WILL get warm from it'd recharge cycles......

Oh well just pull it out and store it in a cool dry place

Cheers~

#19 Post by **carbon_unit** » Sat Oct 23, 2004 1:44 pm

My T23 has been on for two weeks attached to a port replicator and the battery feels cold to me. I'm leaving it in.
I am thinking about supporting the laptop with something to raise it up and let air circulate underneath it so it would run cooler.

lfeagan · #20 Post by **lfeagan** » Sat Oct 23, 2004 1:56 pm

carbon_unit wrote:My T23 has been on for two weeks attached to a port replicator and the battery feels cold to me. I'm leaving it in.
I am thinking about supporting the laptop with something to raise it up and let air circulate underneath it so it would run cooler.

In fact there are things you can buy that do just exactly what you want to do, run cool air to the lower part of the laptop. Just google for laptop cooler and you will get good hits.

Here are some that are out there:
http://www.dealtime.com/xPP-System_Cool ... top_cooler

#21 Post by **daeojkim** » Sat Oct 23, 2004 4:28 pm

The longest I had my computer running XP was like 120 days w/o ever rebooting. I had to reboot after I did some windows update.

Plinkerton · #22 Post by **Plinkerton** » Sat Oct 23, 2004 4:41 pm

This isn't about thinkpads, but I asked the guy at Compusa about the display notebooks they have there. he said they are pretty much running 24-7 365 days a year. He said they all pretty much just keep going.

Though they do just sit there, and not really get used, and get thrashed by the customers banging on them, they at least keep on ticking in windows.

Kenn · #23 Post by **Kenn** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 2:52 am

Plinkerton wrote:This isn't about thinkpads, but I asked the guy at Compusa about the display notebooks they have there. he said they are pretty much running 24-7 365 days a year. He said they all pretty much just keep going.

Though they do just sit there, and not really get used, and get thrashed by the customers banging on them, they at least keep on ticking in windows.

The big difference being those demo systems never have to worry about battery health (if the batteries are ever connected in the first place).

Leaving Ts on?

Leaving Ts on?

Who is online