How much energy does a computer actually use?

My father every night shutdowns the computer. It is is about 3 years old. I cant stand that its always shut down. Please help me understand how much electric energy is saved by doing this. Or is it just the same to keep it on?

How much energy does a computer actually use?
It doesn't cost much to leave it running and uses very little energy.





Here's a nifty little calculator provided by my energy provider: https://secure.progress-energy.com/sid/c...





according to them, it costs around $0.005 (thats 1/2 a cent) per hour a computer is turned on.





Now, lets just say you leave your computer on for a month straight. Thats 24 hrs x 30 days x .5 cents/hour = 360 cents or $3.60. Not very costly in my opinion.
Reply:i can tell you right now a computer does not take up much energy. it does save money by shutting it down, but it does not cost much to leave it running as i do. i leave my desktop running all the time, my gaming desktop i shutdown and my laptop i shutdown.





but if you keep your computer on all day you have to make sure to keep it clean or the cooling system, probably a fan since your comp is 3 years old will clog with dust, overheat and either self shutdown from overheating or fry.





if you keep it running all day keep it clean, but i can tell you now, it does not cost much to keep it running all the time