Moving from CRT to LCD...

[amikoenig]

3 questions for the"professionals" here:

A. TURN OFF AT NIGHT?
CRT monitors they tell you not to turn them off at the end of the day, 'cause just like computers, starting them up causes more wear-n-tear than leaving them on (Screen-Saver on). But what about LCD monitors? Seems to me that, unlike CRT, it's better to turn them off for the night, certainly for the weekend.... Why shorten my monitor's life?

B. ENERGY SAVER?
If leaving the monitor on, what's the right way to put it on energy-saver? To me it seems like the Screen-Saver is not really saving ANY energy (images moving on the screen). I don't see a way to turn the monitor to sleep (ie: darken the display) on its own... I know one of my (Mac's) Screen-Savers should darken my display, should I use that?

C. COLD DISPLAY TURNED ON
When first turning on the display, is there a time frame for it to get to its true brightness? To me it seems that at first it's darker, and it takes a few minutes to "warm up" and get to its normal brightness...

Thanks.

 

[conghelach]

TURN OFF AT NIGHT?? MOST DEFINITELY, for that matter you should not leave your computer powered on at all when you are not at home. When not using your monitor you should also turn it off. This will extend the life of your hardware significantly. There is no reason for a home user to leave a computer on all of the time.


ENERGY SAVER: you can set your monitor in the energy star settings to sleep after a certain period of time, for me I use twenty minutes so If I leave my computer, the monitor powers down to sleep mode shutting off the screen but can be quickly reactivated with a mouse click or keystroke

WARM UP, I would say that lcd's need a few minutes of warm up to reach optimal but really thirty to sixty seconds and everything looks normal to me.

Now there are some who will tell you to leave your computer on all of the time BLAH BLAH, I fix those peoples computers OFTEN the scenario is I was at work for eight hours came home to a burnt electric smell........they bring the computer in and bam the cooling fans have failed in some cases toasting the computer while they were gone. MUCH better to shut down when leaving home and/or going to bed or not using it for a long while.

 

[UrielDagda]

Well with my FW900 CRT, I keep it on, because it takes 10-15 mins to "warm up" and does a weird blur/pop thing several times. When I get an LCD I will just turn it off when I am not using the computer and just have it set to sleep after a certain amount of time if I forget.

As for my PCs, I always left them on. I ran my P90 for 2 solid years (yeah I had to reboot a lot, stupid Windows 98) and my 2nd one, 1.1Ghz Gateway, I left that thing on for 2 or 3 years.. My current 2.2Ghz PC I have had on for 2.5 years and only turn it off to use compressed air to blow out the dust once every 6 months.

 

[Nenu]

Leaving a PC on permanently is not a bad thing but a good thing for reliability as long as it is kept clean and cool.
Most failures occur due to the expansion and contraction of components as they warm up or cool down. They can break contacts which are impossible to repair.

That said, there are downsides to leaving a PC on like:
When not at home and there is a storm. there is more chance a local lightning strike will hurt your hardware if it is switched on.
Ensure the case has adequate air throughput.
Extra noise may be bothersome to others.
Dust will build up faster on heatsinks/fans etc (Regular cleaning of heatsinks and fans must be done).
Electricity bill !

My PC has run 24/7 for the last few years with 3 hard drives and it has never been so reliable!
I have had one hard drive start to make bearing whine noise but that was because it was placed on top of a DVD drive for a short time and overheated.

Morale: Keep things at a constant temp + cool enough and they will last longer.

This doesnt apply quite the same to monitors. In general when not in use, power your monitor off as both CRTs and LCDs wear out significantly while on.
A constant temp is a good thing but is impractical to attain as they do need to be switched off when not in use for longest life.

I'm still using a 22" IIyama CRT that I bought in year 2000.
The secret is to use power saving to turn it off when not in use.

 

[amikoenig]

Thanks for all the input...

As I predicted, the verdict on leaving your computer on or shut it off for the night --- is split.

I am still not sure about my Mac, I usually leave it on even for the weekend, especially during the WINTER, when my office building turns down (previous building turned it all off...) their heating systems... Leaving the computer on keeps it warm even in a cold office. I have everything connected thru an electrical buck up system (APC), so even if there is a storm, it's relatively safe.

But turning the monitor off is easier to decide. I set my Mac to turn on Screen Saver after 5 minutes, and go blank (Energy Saver) after 30.

I must GUESS that doing that (turning blank) is practically the same as turning it off mechanically, am I right?