While it’s tempting to simply leave your computer on overnight, or have it running in sleep mode, there are a few legitimate reasons why you might want to consider turning it off at the wall.
1 It Can Save Significant Power
While your computer might not use much power in sleep mode, or idling overnight, using zero watts will always cost less than using some watts. Whether the power saving is worth it for you really depends on factors like your computer’s actual power consumption overnight and how much you pay for electricity overnight.
After you’ve done the math of what it costs you in power to run your computer overnight for a year, decide if you’re fine with that number, and don’t forget that there’s a potential environmental impact for every watt consumed, regardless of what it costs in money.
2 You Can Stave Off PC-Breaking Updates
There’s nothing worse than waking up to find your computer has developed some issue thanks to a faulty update. It’s not always a huge deal like the Crowdstrike outage, but even a small bug can ruin a whole day of your productivity. If you only switch on your computer when it’s time to start using it, and you check the news or your work emails on your phone before that point, there’s a good chance you’ll know if something’s gone wrong with an update before you turn your computer back on. There’s even a good chance the faulty update will already be rolled back in the meantime.
3 It Makes Your PC Less Vulnerable to Hacking
A computer that has no power can’t be hacked, and having your computer turned off while you aren’t using it for anything comes with the added bonus of giving malicious software and hackers a smaller window of opportunity. If someone tries to take over your computer while you’re sitting in front of it, you might actually notice something strange is going on before they can finish the job.
4 It Can Reduce Wear and Tear on Components
Computer components have a limited lifespan, and every hour your computer is running takes hours off that clock. This used to be a bigger issue with computers that used mechanical hard drives for their primary drive, but these days SSDs have largely removed this type of wear as a concern. Mechanical drives will go to sleep and park their motors after a while, which is more likely to happen for secondary drives, so that concern is also reduced.
However, if your computer uses liquid cooling, your pumps wear down during use, and the same goes for any fans that are running in your system. Technically, electronics such as integrated circuits also degrade over time as power flows through them, though admittedly, under normal circumstances, this happens too slowly to matter in real-world use. Nonetheless, there are several components in your computer that will have shortened lifespans.
5 It Reduces Noise Pollution
I know a lot of people have their computers in their bedrooms, which means that the noise from your system is there the entire time you’re trying to sleep. Believe me, I’ve been there. For some folks this bit of white noise can actually help, but I bet there are just as many people whose sleep quality would be better without the extra noise. Especially if you have a computer that ramps the fans up and down, instead of a steady idle drone.
Even if your computer isn’t in the same place you sleep, it may be contributing noise somewhere that could do with being a little less noisy, so it’s definitely worth keeping in mind.
Of course, there are many legitimate reasons to keep your computer on overnight as well. Maybe you have a big game to download, or perhaps you also use your computer as a Plex server. However, if your computer is literally doing nothing while you sleep, it might be time to pull the plug.
