Dell Inspiron 4000

Switching a desktop on/off reduces the lifetime of the thing; is this also true for a laptop? The distinction being that the desktop switch physically breaks the circuit (at least on the ones I'm used to) whereas the laptop button is some sort of electronic thing.

Incidentally does it matter that if you put it on your lap you'd set fire to your manhood?

Thanks any help.

The function of the power switch in a desktop and a laptop is (in modern computers) nearly identical. Both send a signal to a power control circuit to cut off or reduce the amount of power being used.

Generally, when you shut down a computer, you don't even touch the power switch, do you? ACPI handles it for you.

Hard drives may be at some risk from frequent shut downs/reboots because they will be used heavily on the startup.

I would say that laptops and desktops are nearly equivalent in this department.

You think setting your manhood on fire would end up being an experience with no real effect on your life?

If you are considering leaving the laptop on 24/7 vs shutting it down then electrical speaking they are similar but cooling is a different matter. Our companies Dell Latitude laptops have a high hard drive failure rate due to them running hot when left on 24/7. So I would suggest shutting the laptop down when finished using it for the day.

Only if your wanting to produce offspring

Or be able to write your name in the snow, be able to <insert euphemism for mate with your mate>, unabashedly shower in public locker rooms, or even walk upright.

So I take it that as long as you've got acpi, which I havn't - just installed Debian Sarge and laptop predates 2002 cut off date and acpi=force won't work - you can switch on/off at whim.

If it's configured to, yes. I shut my laptop down with the power button, and it follows the same routine as if I had issued a "halt" command.

BTW, you can get laptop platforms at Best Buy, <insert name of similar store here>, and so forth, that will hold your laptop about an inch or so off your lap.

Edit:
There are also ways of getting around the pre-2002 ACPI problem, but your best bet is probably going to be APM.

Thanks; but I'm too manly to worry about my crotch being on fire.

Your company's Dell laptops have a high failure rate because Dell has an abysmal failure rate. Period. Even with the higher-end Inspirons included in the average, their overall laptop failure rate is 17%. This is due in part do to their beating manufacturers to death over parts (Dell actually does not manufacture the laptops, one of six or seven companies does, and Dell just specifies their badging and case design.). Not only that, Dell chooses OEM hard drives with 1yr warranties - they compete solely on price so they have no interest in spending $10 to $15 more per unit for drives with three or five year warranties. Some of the other big brands are even worse: take HP and Toshiba for example. HP has gone down the tubes ever since the days of Carly.

$.02 and then some

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Dell laptops may be bad, but at least they're not manufactured by Ford. If they were manufactured by Ford, a personal-size fire extinguisher would be a mandatory accessory!

One of my friends had a Pinto which spontaneously combusted in a 7-11 parking lot while he was inside getting a "Slurpee".

Didn't get your meaning orgionally, but have just installed the apm program and the computer nows powers down automatically at the end of the shutdown process - so belated thanks.

Glad to help.