Some PC power myths debunked

Ted Samson from InfoWorld came out with a list of some common--and persistent--myths with regard to PC power management. While oil prices are now a far cry from what they were just months ago, it does make sense to minimize waste when possible. And of course, it does feel good to reduce your household CO2 emissions, doesn't it?

I've listed what I think are the most relevant myths below, with my personal opinion about them.

• The power used to turn my PC on, negates any of the benefits of turning it off.

This is an outright myth. Unless, of course, you repeatedly power cycle your PC every five minutes. Just power it down when your PC's not in use, will you?

• My screen saver is saving me energy.

Well, this might be possible if your screen saver has a dark background, but nothing can match the power consumption of a monitor that has been switched off--which is zero. As a matter of fact, I don't even rely on the power-saving mode to kick in for the laptop/external LCD monitor configuration I have in my home office. When I'm away from my PC for more than five to 10 minutes, I simply hit the power button to switch it off.

• Turning my PC on and off will reduce its performance and useful life.

While there may have been some truth to this in the past, this is no longer the case. Modern hardware is able to handle the stresses of being shut down and started up. Case in point: Laptop users do that all the time when they are on the road. Even IBM and Hewlett-Packard encourage their own employees to turn off idle computers, according to Samson. So why shouldn't you?

To read the rest of this story:
- check out this article at InfoWorld

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