How much electricity does a laptop consume per hour and per month?

Now in the world of information technology, modern technology is coming to the fore. Probably few people thought about how much electricity the laptop consumes per hour. Due to the increase in tariffs, even rich people begin to save. So how much power does a laptop consume per hour of work? Let's deal with this interesting question.

Laptop selection

If you are just planning on buying a laptop, then try to pay attention to energy-efficient models. Perhaps the computer will cost you a little more, but so you save on electricity, and over time it will pay off. Remember that different models use electricity differently. To a greater extent, this depends on the purpose of the laptop. To find out how much electricity a laptop consumes per hour, you need to consider its various types. Unfortunately, we will not be able to get the exact result.

The cost of electricity from a laptop

1. A laptop with average performance. Let's say you bought this laptop for work. You work on it for about 8 hours a day in various office applications, on the Internet, or play simple games. In this case, the laptop will consume about 80 watts per hour. For 8 hours, about 0.640 kW will run on the meter. For a month it goes 19.2 kW. Not bad, right? But this is an average laptop that just works. OK, let's move on to the next example.
2. Gaming laptop. How much power does a laptop with a good processor and gaming graphics card consume ? A gaming laptop will consume about 190 watts. It is difficult to calculate how much electricity a person spends using this technique, as different people spend different times at a computer. But suppose you play it 6 hours a day. In just one day you will spend 1.14 kW, which will be about 34.2 kW per month. Pretty big indicator.
3. Laptop in server mode . There are people who use their computer as a server on which they store photo and video files. Of course, such a laptop is not equipped with high technical specifications, the only thing is a capacious hard drive (several terabytes). This computer will consume about 30 watts per hour. If he works 24 hours a day, he will spend about 0.72 kW, which will be 21.6 kW per month.

How to find out how much power a computer consumes

As we have already found out, energy consumption will depend on many details. Completed tasks and computer specifications do not allow you to accurately determine how much electricity a laptop consumes per hour. If you buy a new computer, you can determine its power and calculate the approximate costs (this information is indicated on it). But there may be another case, you buy a assembled laptop on which there is no data on power. In this case, it will not work to find out the approximate costs, unless, of course, it is completely disassembled.

So, let's figure out how to find out how much electricity a laptop consumes? There are two effective ways that we will now consider.

1. Accurate. Now you can purchase a device that is able to determine the energy consumption. You can buy such a new device in any store or on the Internet. The price of a wattmeter starts at $ 15 for the simplest models. If you want to take a more advanced model, you will have to shell out a minimum of $ 30. How does he work? The power meter must be plugged into an outlet near the laptop. After a few seconds, he will give you all the information you need.
   
2. Exemplary. If you do not want to spend money on various devices for determining the energy consumption, then you can try an alternative method, but it is not accurate. First you need to turn off all electrical appliances and leave one 100-watt bulb. We turn to the counter, you need to calculate how many turns it will make in 30 seconds. So, you remember this number. Turn off the light and turn on the computer. Calculate how many revolutions the counter will make when the laptop is connected to the network. If there will be much more, then you need to repeat the experiment, but with another bulb, more powerful (200 watts).

What is the difference between different power modes

Today, modern technology has reduced energy consumption. If you need to move away for a while, it is impractical to completely turn off the laptop, but in order to save it, you can transfer it to another mode. To do this, you need to run a specific program that will turn off or slow down some components of the device. If you are going to start working on a laptop, the program will automatically start these processes. So there was an opportunity to save on a powered device.

In standby mode, the laptop does not work, but it still consumes electricity, since the program is active and processes can resume at any time, as soon as the user indicates this. If your computer is in sleep mode, it only takes 30 seconds to activate all the components.

The second sleep mode is inaction or hibernation. This mode is similar to an off state. The cost of electricity in this case will be minimal. Unfortunately, even if you turn off the device completely, it will spend a small amount of electricity. This is due to network capabilities.

How much power the laptop consumes in sleep mode

1. Sleeping mode. In sleep mode, the laptop consumes little power, but it is still 2 times more than when the device is turned off. The computer needs power to maintain system memory and activate all tasks when the normal operating mode is turned on. How much power does a laptop consume in sleep mode? Typically, average computers spend about 10 watts per hour. It is worth noting that laptops consume less power compared to desktop computers. According to statistics, a portable device is 3 times more economical than a stationary one.
   
2. Hibernation mode. As we already found out, this is the second sleep mode. It looks like a complete computer shutdown, but in this case the data is saved in a file. You will have to wait to continue working with the laptop, since switching on is slower than in normal sleep mode. A computer in this mode consumes about 5-10 watts per hour.
3. Full shutdown. In this mode, data is not saved, and to continue working, you must turn on the computer again. Even with such a system shutdown, the laptop will consume electricity. For an hour you can count about 4 watts.

How much power a laptop consumes per month

Of course, we will not be able to accurately calculate how much we will spend on electricity per month, but we will try to get an average value that will allow us to estimate the cost of electricity from a computer.

So how much power does a laptop consume? Let's say you have an average laptop that you use for games and work. On average, you work on it for 4 hours and play for 3 hours. During operation, the cost of electricity will be 0.4 kW, for games 0.45 kW and 17 hours of inactivity, which will also require 68-170 watts, depending on the mode. As a result, the cost of electricity per month will be about 30 kW.

How to reduce laptop electricity consumption

We found out how much electricity the laptop consumes per hour and per month, now we need to take care of saving energy. Of course, the main thing is to disconnect the laptop from the network when turning off , but there are still certain rules that can help in saving:

• When buying a laptop, pay attention to energy-efficient models.
• If you are comfortable, you can reduce the brightness of the screen.
• Do not spend much time playing games and turn off the laptop.
• Configure power modes based on your needs and schedule.

Conclusion

Now you can calculate how much electricity the laptop consumes per hour and set up a work schedule for yourself that will help in saving. Remember that shutting down your laptop completely will help. If you are guided by all the tips, you will spend less on electricity.