The PC (Personal Computer) is a highly configurable and upgradable gaming platform that, among home systems, sports the widest variety of control methods, largest library of games, and cutting edge graphics and sound capabilities.
The only time my laptop is off is when it dies. Or the times it shuts itself down due to over heating... which actually happens frequently. I don't take very good care of my laptop.
So there are two important sleep modes, called S3(sleep) and S4(deep sleep). S4 you achieve by holding down the shift key in the last windows menu. In sleep mode, the current data of your system -like a running movie- is suspended to the main memory, in deep sleep or S4 mode it is suspended to the harddrive. Main memory is very fast to "wake up", yet it requires to be powered to retain stored data, which means that you can't unplug your PC while in sleep mode unless you have a notebook with a battery.
A notebook can always be put on Stand-by (S3 mode, sleep , when system data is suspended to RAM) or S4 mode even when disconnected from a power outlet. In S3 sleep, main memory is powered either from the outlet or the battery. For notebooks both modes of sleep are perfectly viable, which is one of the biggest advantages notebooks have over desktop PCs. With a notebook you are able to stop and resume work/play almost instantaneously, while also being able to pull the plug to save energy as well as be save from blackouts.
A computer will always draw a little power when plugged < draw even more power when in Sleep mode << and more than a hundred bucks worth of power a year, when always on and idling. Sidenote: There is also a high chance of having to to exchange your Power Supply within the first two years, when the PC works non stop. At least I know of two cases, where it happened.
To answer the question, I put my notebook in stand-by (one button push), then hit the big power switch to disconnect it and all peripherals from the grid. Instantaneous peace, dark and quiet and zero power consumption. After a couple of hours my laptop automatically goes from S3 to S4 sleep state, which takes a little longer to wake up but conserves the battery charge. This is some kind of weird pre-set which I can't disable.
In expensive gaming rigs solid state drives will soon replace the dowdy harddrives, which will make the S4 - deep sleep option very fast to wake up. For desktops the economic options are either shutdown or S4 sleep. Ideally one would also unplug/disconnect from the grid.
for my desktop, i turn it off at night. and if i leave the house for the afternoon or something. depends on whats goin on, maybe i'm downloading something and i want to continure the download? then i usually put it on low power mode and turn my moniter off. my netbook has ubuntu 9.04 on it though, so startup is pretty speedy, i usually turn that thing off.
Mine goes into sleep when it's left alone for 25min (I think it is). I shutdown at night or if I know I'll be gone most of the day. Leaving a computer on all the time is senseless.
" For my desktop it's sleep. Since it takes ages to turn back on. For my laptop it's off. "
About the same for me... except that I turn my desktop off during the night and keep it on all day. Laptop I turn off when I'm done and turn back on when I need to use it again, no matter how little the time between usages may be.
24/7 365, only thing that goes off are my monitors and speakers.
the point is seeding torrents for all the legal things i download. and booting a PC from cold multiple times a day takes a hit on the hardware, it's actually better to leave it running.
Shutdown; because sleep still uses a significant amount of power, and all sorts of things can go wrong with a computer not completely shut down (lightning storm or other source of power interruption being the major one). I use sleep on my laptop only if I know I'm going to be right back to it.
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