Leaving your computer on 24/7

I've heard both sides of the story; some say it's better for the computer, some say it's worse..

I personally have had my computer on constantly (minus a few power outages, turning it off during a storm, etc...) for about 3 years now, and I find it works better that way then turning it off every night.
 
I leave my server on 24/7 and there really isn't much of a difference in my electric bill. But then I never really use the computer at all, I just leave it on for file sharing. Using traditional hard drives it will shorten their life since they are constantly running.
 
There's no harm to leave the computer running 24/7 but some people feel it is a waste of energy. It's really a personal preference. Initial power on is probably the most stressful for the computer because that's when the components are subjected to an initial power surge plus that's when your HDD is drawing the most power while spinning up.
 
Most everyone's pretty much nailed it here, and I too leave everything on. Like they say when you fly, the most dangerous parts are the take off and landing, so for PCs, the most critical points of failure are power on (and to a lesser extent) power down.

I've got a couple of high draw systems at home, but even they don't take up too much power when I leave them idle all day.

If you're nervous about leaving a system on, invest in a good UPS (APC or TrippLite) - they're worth their weight in gold.
 
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