Greater savings can be made

Of course PCs should be turned off or hibernated over night. And anyone who thinks that the power they consume while booting is more than they would waste while powered on, or that the lifetime is reduced by one power-cycle per day, needs to do a reality check.

But there are greater savings to be made. Most desktop PCs seem to take of the order of 60 to 100 watts. If you spend your day playing the latest 3D games that's OK, but for the vast majority of business applications those machines are massively over-spec. Rather than a two-core 2 GHz Intel Throbotron, try a 1 GHz VIA C7-M. It will be more than adequate for office applications, doesn't need a fan, takes less desk space, costs less to buy, and takes about 25 watts max. That's a much greater saving.

So why do people insist on these power-hungry processors? Well I blame Intel's advertising budget and the "my PC is faster than your PC" factor.