energy saver?

[spdrbb]

With utilities so expensive, I was just wondering if anyone knew if it saved significantly more electricity shutting down my Mac entirely when I left it instead of just putting it to sleep.
I heard leaving it on all the time is like leaving on a 75 watt bulb!

Comments

[derekcfpegritz]

I don't know much about Macs--I hate the fucking things--however, I would assume that their power consumption is probably no different than that of any other PC. When it comes to the question of powering down your computer or leaving it on...it ultimately comes down to nothing more than do you want to turn it off or leave it on?

Most home computers don't use a noticeable amount of energy. If all you have is, say, a Mac, a printer, and computer speakers...honestly, you wouldn't know the difference if you left the computer on 24/7 or shut it off. It certainly wouldn't prolong the life of the machine or save an appreciable amount of cash.

But very large, powerful, high-end gaming systems eat up a LOT of power, and so do periperherals like external hard-drives, speakers, etc.--anything connected to your computer that draws power, also. For example, I have a thoroughly average HP computer...with a gigantic 28" LCD monitor, massive studio-grade speakers, four external drives, a printer/scanner, and a wireless router...all of which are plugged into two separate UPS backups. My system eats a LOT of power...which is why I've actually taken to shutting mine down when I'm going to be away from it for more than, say, four or five hours.

I doubt you have a Monster Machine like mine, though, so you're probably safe just leaving it on.