... have just got my broadband connection so am hammering some downloads at the moment.  Is it safe to leave my lappie on 24/7 and is there any concerns for overheating etc.  Ideally I would like to leave it on for a few days at a time and then switch it off.  I press the Fn and F4 key which blacks out the monitor so I dont get any burnout,

Any tips/advice ... thank you!!!

Yes I used too. Mine went happily over night for years.

Yeah, I leave mine on 24/7.

Leaving computers on overnight - especially laptops that are subject to more dynamic temperature change abuse - actually does them more good than switching on/off all the time.

If it is well ventilated it will only reach a certain temperature and stay there, whether on for 2 hours or 12 hours.

yup its fine in fact as clocked says... does less damage to the internals.

One thing you MUST do however is REMOVE THE BATTERY!!!

Constant Charging = wrecks your battery. Mine was wrecked inside of 6months, it now no longer charges, and costs Ã,£70 to replace.

Cheers M3ta7h3ad; removing the battery is something that I had NOT thought of.  Much appreciated!!

it actually depends on the battery in your laptop...

For various reasons some batteries are better to always be topped up with trickle charging constantly and others need to be ran flat and charged up again occasionally.

Taking it out does no harm I guess if you cba.

Anyways, ran laptops for months on end with no concerns.  Just remember to disable the suspend features as the amount of times Ive started downloading something then closed the lid without thinking and then had the silly thing go to sleep and not actually do anyting is annoying

Except trickle chargers either work on timers, or work on constantly monitoring the voltage of the battery which requires some fancy circuitry.

Most laptop powerpacks are simple linear transformers with no fancy gubbins, and plow a full 12 volts into it constantly... despite the battery being fully charged.

As such... its always safer to remove the batt at least on any consumer level laptops.

Quote from: Clockd 0NeLeaving computers on overnight - especially laptops that are subject to more dynamic temperature change abuse - actually does them more good than switching on/off all the time.

If it is well ventilated it will only reach a certain temperature and stay there, whether on for 2 hours or 12 hours.

The number of times I have heard that old one, I always switch off to save electric and so do millions of other users and it doesnt harm a computer at all.

One of the magazines has been running a campaign to get peeps to switch off too, seems it would save many businesses millions...

Unless tioy have a specific reason not to switch it off.

Quote from: SeriousThe number of times I have heard that old one, I always switch off to save electric and so do millions of other users and it doesnt harm a computer at all.

Constant heating up and cooling of electronic devices shortens their lifespan.  Scientific fact.  

While the damage may be minor, it does happen.  

Quote from: Serious

Quote from: Clockd 0NeLeaving computers on overnight - especially laptops that are subject to more dynamic temperature change abuse - actually does them more good than switching on/off all the time.

If it is well ventilated it will only reach a certain temperature and stay there, whether on for 2 hours or 12 hours.

The number of times I have heard that old one, I always switch off to save electric and so do millions of other users and it doesnt harm a computer at all.

One of the magazines has been running a campaign to get peeps to switch off too, seems it would save many businesses millions...

Unless tioy have a specific reason not to switch it off.

Its not so bad for lappys though as they can switch poewer levels  

Well so far so good, its been on since I started this thread.  The laptops fan seems to adjust itself accordingly.  I am really surprised that the underside is not really hot - its still relatively cool.  Its a Toshiba A60.

Quote from: mrtWell so far so good, its been on since I started this thread.  The laptops fan seems to adjust itself accordingly.  I am really surprised that the underside is not really hot - its still relatively cool.  Its a Toshiba A60.

toshiba = quality  

Quote from: Serious

Quote from: Clockd 0NeLeaving computers on overnight - especially laptops that are subject to more dynamic temperature change abuse - actually does them more good than switching on/off all the time.

If it is well ventilated it will only reach a certain temperature and stay there, whether on for 2 hours or 12 hours.

The number of times I have heard that old one, I always switch off to save electric and so do millions of other users and it doesnt harm a computer at all.

One of the magazines has been running a campaign to get peeps to switch off too, seems it would save many businesses millions...

Unless tioy have a specific reason not to switch it off.

I have computers that have died for exactly this reason because the motherboard components start warping and connections get broken. In fact Id say motherboards are the most susceptible part for this, so dont brush it off just because youve not seen it happen, its no wives tale.

its no wives tail, but at the same time, it all depends on a number of things:

how hot does the motherboard get.

if it gets really hot things expand a bit more

how cold does it get when its off?

if it gets really cold, the total amount of movement the components experience will be quite large and you may suffer failures.

a PC with adaquate cooling & not kept in a freezer should be fine to be turned off overnight each night.

Some (read: a lot) of businesses will NOT recommend you switch a PC off overnight. this is due to software updates being deployed while everyones @ home. if you train users to switch PCs off, its a nightmare to get them to keep them on for "next tuesday" or something as its all habbit - theyll still turn them off.