Which uses more power. Laptop or PC?

cyberstar

I want to save in energy consumption and want to know which would actually save more power between a laptop or a PC?

albertross_2

PC uses more than laptop

Garnet_Gem

If you leave a PC switched on at the wall but have turned it off, how much power does it use? I'm always nagging about this.

cyberstar

albertross wrote: »

PC uses more than laptop

Do you know by how much more? Or is the difference very minimal?

GoofyGAT

I'd imagine a PC would be quite considerably more because of the much bigger power supply, separate display, speakers (if external), etc.

Desktop vs Laptop: http://www.eu-energystar.org/en/en_022p.shtml

Discussion: How energy efficient ARE laptops compared to desktops?

PC Energy Calculator: http://www.eu-energystar.org/en/en_008b.shtml

G

k9387

Garnet_Gem wrote: »

If you leave a PC switched on at the wall but have turned it off, how much power does it use? I'm always nagging about this.

Unless you switch off at the wall the PC will use a couple of watts for monitoring wake-on-LAN/modem signals and the power button. The biggest use however comes from all the other devices that are left on when the PC is off (monitor, printer, speakers, etc).

I've found the best solution is a power supply board with a master socket, when a very low current is being drawn though the master (such as when a PC or TV is on standby) then all other sockets are off but when whatever is connected to the master socket is turn on then the other sockets become live again.

As for how much power a PC or laptop uses that all depends on it's role, a high end gaming rig can comsume a vast amount of power but a very low power PC can consume less than some laptops. You also have to factor in what you are doing, running games or crunching numbers (SETI, etc) will up the power usage. Generally though a laptop uses less.

Conor_3

cyberstar wrote: »

Do you know by how much more? Or is the difference very minimal?

A magnitude of several dozen times.

My PC has a 600W PSU and it needs it. My laptop will run off a 12V mains adapter rated at under 2 amps without the battery.

Laptops are designed with low power consumption in mind.

cyberstar

If only I knew I would of got myself a laptop instead. I just dont like the idea of using so much power when its not even neccessary. The reason I purchase a PC was because I actually prefered using the PC keyboard and also from my experience from using a laptop, it heats up up your hand after long hours of typing

Stephen_Leak

cyberstar wrote: »

If only I knew I would of got myself a laptop instead. I just dont like the idea of using so much power when its not even neccessary. The reason I purchase a PC was because I actually prefered using the PC keyboard and also from my experience from using a laptop, it heats up up your hand after long hours of typing

You can always plug a full sized keyboard into a laptop if you have a lot of typing to do.