Question about long term effect when turn on and off power number of time a day?

[Humble]

I know some said it's not good idea to turn on and off computer again many time within day or hours, if use computer almost many time, leave on, till you not use computer for 8 hours, then turn off before bed time, I assume might be 8 hours or 16 hours if you sleep then go to work so that would better to turn off computer, but if not use computer much, then turn off.

Now I'm not sure about good long term for steam deck, should I turn off every time I stop use and put in bag, like at work, I use play steam deck like break 15 min or 30 min before start work or at lunch. then turn off again or leave power on in lockers (I locked up so no one stole it)

So I am worry long term, should I turn off and turn on number of time when I want to play on steam deck or it's wise to leave steam deck on and not had bag seal up to heat up, I did leave bag open to cool steam desk up when I was plan to play, upload to steam cloud once I use desktop at home, more or less.

What is anyone's advice for steam, power on and off or leave it on if plan to use later?

[DankWestern]

Use the sleep mode.

[Humble]

Originally posted by DankWestern:

Use the sleep mode.

is it safe to put steam deck in steam bag and zipped up or that is bad idea as it's make heat more and cause fire when using sleep mode?

[eighthgrader]

some said it's not good idea to turn on and off computer again many time within day or hours

Did they say why it is not a good idea? The only thing I can think of is that it might be harmful to turn something on and off again within seconds, but an hour span should be totally fine.

In general, I'd say, it's a pretty good idea to turn off electronics that are not in use, at the very least in order not to waste electricity.

But yeah, with Steam Deck in particular you can just press the power button to put it to sleep, no need really to shut it down completely.

is it safe to put steam deck in steam bag and zipped up

Normally it shouldn't do anything during the sleep, so it wouldn't heat. However, it is totally possible that it will wake up and start doing something, and then yes, it can overheat, so to be safe I personally shut it down when I need to carry it out for a long time.

[Mahjik]

As long as the device is off, you can put it back into the case and close it. Unless the material that Deck is put in cannot absorb heat, then it will be fine. With the Deck off, it will not be generating more heat. The container will absorb the dissipating heat and eventually everything will cool. It will take 'longer' to cool than leaving it out in open air but it will not perpetually heat up.

[deaddoof]

So I am worry long term, should I turn off and turn on number of time when I want to play on steam deck or it's wise to leave steam deck on and not had bag seal up to heat up, I did leave bag open to cool steam desk up when I was plan to play, upload to steam cloud once I use desktop at home, more or less.

Just make sure your device doesn't overheat. Make sure you do not completely drain the power either.

[Humble]

Thank you for all hints, I'm appreciated, I try to take good care of steam deck in long term, it's lot of money to me. (Maybe not to rich people but poor people like me, I guess)

[RSebire]

It’s best to leave it turned off, but with the power cable plugged in, so it charges. It prolongs the battery life.

[invision2212]

I’ve turned on and off my deck over a thousand times easily with no power button issue

[Jcee]

the heating/cooling cycle expands and contracts materials creating micro-fractures over time. This generally takes years and hundreds of thousands of cycles.. but it is one of the reasons electronics eventually fail.
putting electronics to 'sleep' is functionally similar to a shutdown for a majority of the components. In-fact it is worse because the device wakes up every so often to check things like updates, creating another heat cycle on the system.

Personally I don't care enough to bother, except when i intend to put it in storage for multiple days, because it will likely last ~10 years with regular use, and maybe ~11 if you properly shut it down.

A few things that are important IMO for extending the life
1. dont charge it while its in the case, this is pretty important as the charge controller on the steam deck (atleast the old model) tends to get very hot.

2. try to keep it between %20-100% charged. Lithium batteries dont like the extreme charge states, a full charge isnt a huge deal but ideally the battery stays between 50-90% charge to extend its life. again not important enough to micro-manage, just try to not let it die.

3. never charge the lithium ion batteries (like in the steam deck) in temperatures below 32F it can damage the battery

4. set FPS caps in games. older titles can hit 200FPS though the screen cant hit that speed, the SD will gladly throw a bunch of its battery away to render the stuff.

[Draken]

I am a heavy user, multiple times a day, have one since the first months, multiples RMA (1 every year before the thing die usually, never for the same reason, it's my 5th deck ^^)
I always use the sleep mode between sessions (so good to go back directly in game, no time wasted) and turn it off for the night (when i don't forget).

Just one advice: use the power button only to power it ON and use the menu to power it OFF, you will preserve the power button (i had to RMA 2 decks in part or because of that).
You will extend the life time of the button by 2 ^^.

[Boblin the Goblin]

Originally posted by Draken:

I am a heavy user, multiple times a day, have one since the first months, multiples RMA (1 every year before the thing die usually, never for the same reason, it's my 5th deck ^^)
I always use the sleep mode between sessions (so good to go back directly in game, no time wasted) and turn it off for the night (when i don't forget).

Just one advice: use the power button only to power it ON and use the menu to power it OFF, you will preserve the power button (i had to RMA 2 decks in part or because of that).
You will extend the life time of the button by 2 ^^.

How can it be your 5th Deck if you got one every year like you stated?

It was released in 2022.