Which is better: shutting down, or sleep mode?

Hi Everyone,
What is better for the longevity of my computer . . . shutting it down, or putting it in sleep mode? I use my computer throughout the day, so I guess it makes sense to keep it on sleep mode, right? However, I had problems with my screens on a previous apple laptop and someone mentioned that might be because I was putting it in sleep mode all the time. What should I do? Thanks!!!

There's reason to believe that over the long haul that sleeping is probably better than turning it on and off all the time. But whether you wind up with an extra day, month, or year of use...who knows? More to the point is this: under what circumstances are you unwilling to wait for the computer to restart and log in and under what circumstances are you willing to wait? My answer is simple: I want to open the lid and start using my computer - I don't want to wait 2-3 minutes - and my habit doesn't seem to have hurt longevity much. My old Tangerine iBook is still in use (8 years old now) and my white iBook is also still in use (5 years old) and the current owners of both use them just as I did.

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