[My friend] and I were chatting about our computers last night and were complaining how a computer has a shelf life of roughly 3-5 years. This is annoying. Obviously there’s nothing we can about technological advances making our computers outdated eventually, thus requiring us to buy a new one.
However what can we do to treat our computers nicer to prevent mechanical breakdowns that necessitate new purchases?
One debate we had was this: is it better for your computer to leave it on, but in sleep mode turning it off only at day’s end? or is it better to turn it off every time you’re not using it? We felt that frequent switches on and off would be worse, but other people–who shall remain nameless–argues that simply shutting the laptop screen while it’s still on is bad for the computer.
Can you clear up this debate and offer other tips to increase a laptop’s lifespan?

I assume that you don’t care about my theories on computer hardware responding to karmic interference… so let’s keep to the facts.  There are plenty of arguments out on the web for keeping a computer on or not, but I think it’s a pretty simple discussion:

1. Heat is bad.

A little poking around gave me these rough numbers for your computer:  Your CPU should be between 40 – 60 Celsius, and your system should be between 20-40 Celsius.  What the heck does that mean?  I had look it up.  Here is my theory: As I see it, when it comes to computers, hot = bad / cool = good.  According to this interesting article from Johns Hopkins Magazine, at 45 degrees your skin can start to burn.  So it seems safe to say, if it feels hot to the touch, that would be bad.  Prolonged exposure to this kind of thing can damage those sensitive internal parts (on both you and the computer).

2. The lower the quality, the worse the effect

A poorly made computer will be more effected by heat than a well designed one.  It’s a sad fact, but it seems true that a more expensive notebook will generally last longer than a cheap one.  Current thinking is that the lower quality components cannot handle the heat.

3. More on time = More heat = More destruction

If you had a bridge and you wanted it to last as long as possible, you might limit traffic across it from time to time.  Obviously, the bridge would only last as long as its materials (every degrades slowly), but limiting traffic, the main cause of strain to your bridge, vastly increases the lifespan.  The same is true for your computer.

More detailed info

Ok so that covers the basics, now let’s think about some of the other parts to your question:

Shutting the laptop without turning it off, may increase the heat, unless your laptop (like most modern ones) goes into standby or hibernate when closed.  Make sure your computer is not just on with the screen down…

Leaving your computer on all the time sucks dust and junk into your machine.  Ever wondered why that stuff is bad?  It’s simple – dust stops the brilliantly designed parts from letting heat escape efficiently.  And now we know that more heat means…

Back in the day, the components in computers were much more sensitive and the constant starting and stopping would cause errors (I’ve only ever heard of hard drives getting messed up…).  This is no longer the case.  Our devices are full of components that were made to be cycled on an off more than you’re probably willing to do so.

Final words of advice

In the end, none of this is probably very surprising.  Nothing else in our lives lasts longer when heated, so why would our computers?  I leave you with a few tips:

Make sure you machine “sleeps” when you close it or when it’s idle.  It’s nice for you (stops the heat, saves your battery) but also for the environment.  There’s just no need for the average Joe to be running a computer 24/7.

If you do have a “hot” machine, consider buying a cooling pad (if it’s a laptop") or having additional fans / a better case installed (if it’s a desktop).  These small changes (under $50) have been shown to increase the lifespan of devices.

Take your computer in for a tune-up.  These things are not a scam.  There are simple diagnostics that a trained professional can use to figure out if your computer is running as it should.  A tune-up is probably only necessary twice in a computer’s lifetime, once in the middle and once at the end.  It’s better to hear from someone that you need to buy a new machine, rather than find it out when your data melts like clocks in a Dali painting.

Best of luck and thanks for the question Catherine!

~ab