Cost of running a computer or laptop

Cat695

or you can be really cheap...buy a laptop...charge it up at work then use it at home and so on....that way doesn't cost you a penny

or even buy one of those solar panel chargers from somewhere like maplins and charge from the lovely uk sun lol

espresso

totalsolutions wrote: »

Those are very close to my calcs. Laptop has a 18.5v psu and draws 2.7amps 18.5x2.7=49.95 watts. Transformer not 100% efficient so round it up a bit higher.

1000 watts = 12p (guess)
1000/50 = 20 hrs

20hrs / 12p = 1.66666666 pence per hour. devils work.

Your theoretical calculations are flawed because that value is the maximum possible wattage e.g. charging a completely flat battery. In reality a typical laptop will actually consume approx half of your 50W figure when in use. This can easily be proved by using a power meter.

:rolleyes:

whowants2brich

The only other thing to point out is that I have 3 things plugged in to get online:

The broadband modem: 5 watts
The wireless router: 7 watts
The laptop: approx 35 watts when not charging, 60 watts when charging, about 5 watts less when I turn off the screen or fold down the laptop monitor.

It's not just the question of the laptop or PC, but anything else that's required as well (monitor, printer, modem/router etc)...

PS I use my laptop's USB chargers to recharge my mobile phones, PDAs, MP3 players, portable mouse (which even doubles up as a AAA battery charger!) - thus I still use the 45 watts of power but save 10 watts of overnight usage to keep everything charged! And no, the wattage doesn't change if I unplug the USB devices...

piggeh

How much energy would your average gaming PC use up?

esbo

be_alright wrote: »

The consumption on my monitor is a maximum of 110w, which would take into account any usb devices being powered, however it's reported that 'normal' operation is about 60w.

You can get inexpensive meters that you can plug inbetween an item and the socket and it will display exactly how much is being drawn, so you can work out exactly how much it will cost you. You might be surprised at what appliance in your house is the worst offender

The fridge/freezer?

esbo

piggeh wrote: »

How much energy would your average gaming PC use up?

Quite a bit I would imagine, for anything more than a basic graphic card
It would recommend a biger power supply than I currently have, I have 300watt
supply and it recommended 400 watt. That was for a £50 card, for a more
expensive card it could be a lot more. A 700watt supply is recommended for this one.
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/pcw_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@1576062661.1217888241@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccciadeekleifelcflgceggdhhmdfhk.0&page=Product&sku=421900#productInformationSection

I guess it has a dual function as a room heater though. :rotfl:

Erosgirl

Thanks to everyone for your information. I wanted to convince my husband that I wasn't costing us mega bucks but he is still a doubting Thomas. Never mind, I tried, and my mind has been put at rest.

chris3349

Can somebody please work out or inform me how to work out the rough cost of running my laptop per hour spec below. any help apriciated.

Power

Power Device: External
Voltage Required: AC 120/230 V ( 50/60 Hz )
Battery

Technology: 4-cell Lithium Ion
Installed Qty: 1
Capacity: 2000 mAh
Run Time (Up To): 1.33 hour(s)
Operating system / software

OS Provided: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic, Microsoft Windows Vista Business
Software: Drivers & Utilities, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Norton Internet Security (90 days subscription), Nero
Environmental parameters

Min Operating Temperature: 5 °C
Max Operating Temperature: 35 °C
Humidity Range Operating: 20 - 85%
Ciao

Listed on Ciao since : 26/09/2007

Conor_3

Erosgirl wrote: »

Once I sign in to the Internet I am on there hours. Can anyone give me an idea how much an hour on average the electricity cost is to run a computer or laptop?

It depends. How old is the computer? What hardware is in it? What size CPU is it? What revision of that CPU is it? What size screen? Is it TFT or a CRT? What type of applications are being run on it - gaming and playing back video and music uses more electricity than web browsing. How many USB devices is it powering? Does it have Wifi or wired network?

There is no "average".

spud17

Conor, have you checked the date of the thread?