If it’s just a for a few minutes then I just leave it running. If I’m going to be gone for 45 minutes or more I shut it down. Then throw the power switch on the surge protector. No need to use the electricity.

What's your typical "stand-by" mode for your computer when you're not using it?

Off.

i keep forgetting there are people who never turn their machines off

and its always wild to see

turn it off, as it should be when you are away

My computer is a plex server, a homeassistant server, it runs cron jobs, there's a web server with some automation and browsing utilities I use throughout the day. It's on 24/7, doesn't sleep.

not using it? thats an option?

I haven't turned off my laptop in close to 10 years. I just flip the screen and it's good to go tomorrow. A marvellous workhorse.

It's usually off unless I expect to be back relatively soon. Startup times aren't an issue nowadays

Either lock it or full device shutdown. A device i am not actively using doesn't need to be running while I sleep or produce network traffic.

Holy shit people. It takes 20 seconds to boot up a computer. Turn your shit off. Save yourself money and save the fucking environment.

Damn, I was going to upvote the comment that says "my computer is on and running, 24 hours a day" but nobody said it yet 🙁 sorry Earth...

Lock screen and sleep. My gaming/programming computer is also our media server so it is basically always on.

PC is powered off when not in use because it's only for gaming and occasionally a build server.

Laptop locked if I'm going out of sight of it, hibernated if I'm going away for more than half an hour or so/need to put it in my bag

Occasionally left on with the screen off if I need it for something remotely but then I'll remotely shut it down when I've got what I need

I shut down, but Fedora boots for me in like 15-20 seconds. My drive encryption is a tiny bit annoying to double log in, but I have longer mental loading pauses all the time, so who am I to complain as if those few seconds are somehow a chore or inconvenience to the calories crusher sponge. Fully cycling RAM off regularly is by-far a best-practice until we live in a Rust-y world.

I use software to selectively power down components when not in use so the power usage when idle is like 1.4 W total. So ill only suspend it manually when like going to sleep. Otherwise it sits on.

I usually hibernate just because I usually have several projects open at once and like to dive back in quickly. But ever since upgrading to Windows 10 a million years ago, my computer is possessed and turns itself back on, eventually goes into standby, and won't come out without a hard reset.

In the years since I've neither identified and fixed the problem, nor remembered to shut down instead of hibernate. I just do hard resets a lot now.

I turn it off until I’m ready to use it next

I shut it down. It takes less than 30 seconds to boot back up.

I have hibernate enabled in windows, and have it set for when I click the power button on the case it hibernates instead of sleep or shutdown. Hibernation means it's off, but it saves its state before it shuts down and restores it after turning on. Meaning I have the convenience of my startup programs being all booted up and open windows and programs are just as I left them. I shutdown the computer normally the last time I use it at night, so I have it freshly booted in the morning.

Personally I hate waste and walking away from a computer for more than a few minutes and leaving it on makes me uncomfortable. I know I'm weird and a bit on the extreme side, but it's how I feel, and the hibernation option is a good option that keeps most of the convenience of leaving it on or suspended.

My desktop PC stays on through out the day, but I turn it off when I’m sleeping, mostly because it flashes the power button LED in sleep mode, which sometimes prevents me from sleeping. I usually turn of the monitor for the same reason (LED button stays on).

My macbook is set to sleep/lock itself after some period of inactivity, and when I’m done for the day, I usually just close it. The only time I fully turn it off is when I’m traveling and trying to save as much battery as I can.

After 30mins of inactivity my account locks and my screens blank. Few seconds after that my monitors go to standby. That's it. I never shutdown unless something necessitates it and I only really reboot for updates if they require it. My PC basically stays on 24/7 and I've never had any issues. Current build has parts all the way back from 2015/2016 with no failures to speak of.

Leave it on, but turn off the monitor. I have it set up as a GitLab runner for some projects and also want to be able to SSH/SFTP in to access files, run updates, etc.

I do wish Pop!_OS had a better hibernate/sleep mode.

My computer just stays on until I turn it off or the battery dies.

I leave it running during lunch and dinner unless we are going out somewhere. I turn it off at night too.

I have different computers for different purposes. One runs 24/7 because it runs various servers. A couple are for gaming and are put to sleep when not in use. My laptop is shut down because I have no reason not to. I've also got a ras pie that runs 27/7.

If it’s not turned off then xscreensaver kicks in and draws something.

After 10 or so minutes of inactivity my monitor shuts down (well, screen black, not actually pushing the power button on the monitor).

When I know I'll leave for half an hour or more (and I'm not downloading something big), I hit the physical sleep button on my keyboard. Iunno, not needing to go through a couple clicks on the start menu and instead just pressing two buttons makes me more likely to use it.

Lastly, when I'll be gone for multiple hours (sleeping, working, etc.) and I don't have a huge or particularly slow download, I shut it off. But I never turn off my multi plug rectangle, unless we got a heavy thunderstorm.

Locked with the screens off.

For my desktop, I usually just put it in sleep mode and turn the TV I use as a monitor off. No need for a full shutdown when I'm usually using it a lot in my free time.

swaylock + swayidle, using wlopm to turn my monitors off after 5 minutes (and lock after 6 minutes, but if I'm going away from the computer I lock it myself with a keyboard shortcut anyway). I try to turn off the computer if I'm away for a while though, as I have full disk encryption.

Hibernate

Computer off, monitor goes into standby. Using Wake on Lan app to boot computer since it is tucked away under desk

If I'm in the room there's a strong chance a computer is on. I don't use my phone a lot at home so most of my entertainment and time is spent on it