Lap-top-v -TV

Cardew

Brambleberry wrote: »

It entirely depends on which laptop and tv you compare.

The easiest thing to do is check the wattage of both appliances on the information panel (or transformer on laptop charger) then you need to figure out how much it costs for a full laptop charge and how many hours viewing it will give you compared to similar for tv.

An interesting question and definitely one to exercise MSE muscles- time to dig out my calculator...

ETA:
OK - back from peering round the back of tv - here are my numbers:

TV: 45W
Laptop charger:45W

As they are identical, I've not bothered with calculations! In my case then it all depends on the charge/time of use for the laptop. My laptop usually charges in about an hour and I usually get about 2 hours-ish when using it on battery alone (I'm not sure of the exact numbers) so it might be slightly cheaper to use the laptop, but the sound and picture are much better on the tv.

The information panel on the back of an appliance is meaningless as a guide to consumption; it indicates the maximum the power supply unit can draw.

With a laptop a more normal consumption wlll be 20W to 25W. It might draw more when playing a DVD, running external speakers etc.

I suspect your 'peering at the back of the TV' caused you to misread the figure. Instead of 45W I would be pretty certain it is 450W which is a standard size power unit for most CRT/LED/LCD TVs(Plasma are higher)

However that doesn't mean that TVs draw that power. Typical consumption might be 90W to 120W; more if the TV is powering other devices - external speakers etc