High Electricity bills

Ultrasonic

MWT said:

With some you can remove the battery and just run on mains power, but it is not typical.

Net result though is that you run the battery hot and 100% charged and then kill the battery quickly.since the packs hate being hot and full.

You can reduce the risk by periodically running on battery alone so the pack gets cycled, but ultimately notebooks are not ideal for regular daily use as a static computer, but they are the corporate weapon of choice to enable hot-desking and home working so it is what it is I guess...

Don't laptops generally use less power than desktops though? I use a laptop at home for a few reasons but I did think this was one advantage.

I've had my laptop about 5 years and I've always charged it till full and then unplugged it, then generally run it on battery till it earns the battery is low. Whenever I Google what may be best though I never find a clear cut answer.

MWT

Ultrasonic said:

MWT said:

With some you can remove the battery and just run on mains power, but it is not typical.

Net result though is that you run the battery hot and 100% charged and then kill the battery quickly.since the packs hate being hot and full.

You can reduce the risk by periodically running on battery alone so the pack gets cycled, but ultimately notebooks are not ideal for regular daily use as a static computer, but they are the corporate weapon of choice to enable hot-desking and home working so it is what it is I guess...

Don't laptops generally use less power than desktops though? I use a laptop at home for a few reasons but I did think this was one advantage.

They are generally less powerful in terms of CPU/GPU so yes they do use less power, and they tend to be better at running in low-power modes when less demanding work is being done, but as ever, if you are using them heavily, especially the GPU then they will not be much different to an equivalent PC.

Ultrasonic

MWT said:

Ultrasonic said:

MWT said:

With some you can remove the battery and just run on mains power, but it is not typical.

Net result though is that you run the battery hot and 100% charged and then kill the battery quickly.since the packs hate being hot and full.

You can reduce the risk by periodically running on battery alone so the pack gets cycled, but ultimately notebooks are not ideal for regular daily use as a static computer, but they are the corporate weapon of choice to enable hot-desking and home working so it is what it is I guess...

Don't laptops generally use less power than desktops though? I use a laptop at home for a few reasons but I did think this was one advantage.

They are generally less powerful in terms of CPU/GPU so yes they do use less power, and they tend to be better at running in low-power modes when less demanding work is being done, but as ever, if you are using them heavily, especially the GPU then they will not be much different to an equivalent PC.

My suspicion is most could quite happily use less capable laptops and save a bit of energy.

The only times I do anything demanding in computing terms at home is when playing games on my PS5.

iFunk

Ultrasonic said:

MWT said:

Ultrasonic said:

MWT said:

With some you can remove the battery and just run on mains power, but it is not typical.

Net result though is that you run the battery hot and 100% charged and then kill the battery quickly.since the packs hate being hot and full.

You can reduce the risk by periodically running on battery alone so the pack gets cycled, but ultimately notebooks are not ideal for regular daily use as a static computer, but they are the corporate weapon of choice to enable hot-desking and home working so it is what it is I guess...

Don't laptops generally use less power than desktops though? I use a laptop at home for a few reasons but I did think this was one advantage.

They are generally less powerful in terms of CPU/GPU so yes they do use less power, and they tend to be better at running in low-power modes when less demanding work is being done, but as ever, if you are using them heavily, especially the GPU then they will not be much different to an equivalent PC.

My suspicion is most could quite happily use less capable laptops and save a bit of energy.

The only times I do anything demanding in computing terms at home is when playing games on my PS5.

Ah, my work Mac is a beefy thing as it needs to run docker amongst other things and anything less than 32Gb of RAM and you are twiddling your thumbs most of the day. 

victor2

We've strayed off topic a bit. Did you find out what is using electricity, apart from your computers and related equipment of course?

Ultrasonic

iFunk said:

Ultrasonic said:

MWT said:

Ultrasonic said:

MWT said:

With some you can remove the battery and just run on mains power, but it is not typical.

Net result though is that you run the battery hot and 100% charged and then kill the battery quickly.since the packs hate being hot and full.

You can reduce the risk by periodically running on battery alone so the pack gets cycled, but ultimately notebooks are not ideal for regular daily use as a static computer, but they are the corporate weapon of choice to enable hot-desking and home working so it is what it is I guess...

Don't laptops generally use less power than desktops though? I use a laptop at home for a few reasons but I did think this was one advantage.

They are generally less powerful in terms of CPU/GPU so yes they do use less power, and they tend to be better at running in low-power modes when less demanding work is being done, but as ever, if you are using them heavily, especially the GPU then they will not be much different to an equivalent PC.

My suspicion is most could quite happily use less capable laptops and save a bit of energy.

The only times I do anything demanding in computing terms at home is when playing games on my PS5.

Ah, my work Mac is a beefy thing as it needs to run docker amongst other things and anything less than 32Gb of RAM and you are twiddling your thumbs most of the day. 

Yes, absolutely there are people who do need more powerful laptops/PCs at home .

At the other end of the scale there are loads that do nothing more demanding than browsing the internet.

From an environmental perspective I suppose the materials used to make a laptop battery should be weighed against the possible electricity saving. I've never actually looked into what might be available in terms of low power desktop PCs but for myself laptops have other benefits (not needing a dedicated PC desk and portability when needed).

MWT

victor2 said:

We've strayed off topic a bit. Did you find out what is using electricity, apart from your computers and related equipment of course?

A count of the flashes over 60 seconds would be a great help in showing how much power was being used...

iFunk

victor2 said:

We've strayed off topic a bit. Did you find out what is using electricity, apart from your computers and related equipment of course?

Not exactly, but it's gone down a lot, as the last bill was cut by 50%, I'm on the right track. I'm happy to just turn stuff off if I'm not using it now, and I'm just working out if it will be better to get off the economy 7 tariff as I no longer use the storage heaters at all. Doing this might just bring it down to under £100 per month, I can live with that as the price rise will then put it likely up to £200 max. After quite a bit of research into properties to rent it still seems better for me to stay here despite the slightly high electricity bills. I'll just turn off the electric at the meter whenever I am away for the flat for for the day, all in all, I am of the opinion that the greener living we can do the better.  

I want to thank all of you for sticking with me and helping me out, this has been one of the most useful forum threads I've ever started and I've learned an awful lot. Thank you once again. 

FreeBear

victor2 said:

iFunk said:

QrizB said:

iFunk said:

Right I see I have them the wrong way round for some reason on the bill the lower figure is the Day one and the higher one the Night figure, I'm still curious what is taking my electricity right now with nothing but my laptops plugged in. 

You referred to your laptops earlier as:

... my workstation ...

Workstation to me means a relatively high-powered computer. Exactly what is running?

Yes I'm a developer, so I have to new MacBook Pros and 3 monitors, I have them on all day, but usually unplug them from power and just run them on battery, as I get a full day's work out of the battery before needing to charge them, so I'd say it's Low.

If you're charging them on the cheaper night rate, that could make sense. But you will use more energy charging the batteries and then running on battery versus just running directly off the mains.

Depends... Laptops will have a setting that reduces power consumption when running from batteries. When they are plugged in to the mains, the laptop will change up a gear and run at full speed - Depending on how the power management subsystem is set up.

SAC2334

The Ampy meter you have is governed to switch over from night to day to night by its internal clock so the meter will only display the active rate .
These clocks will drift out of time over the years .I have seen these clocks drift several hours out of correct time so check if its timer clock is more or less correct 
In my area These Ampy meters are  usually  set to show R1 day/R 2 night . Night rate for my area was usually 12.30 am to 7.30 am .
Their clocks are set to GMT all year so in BST they will be switching over to day rate at 8.30 am if their clocks were correct . I have seen Ampy meters still on night rate up to 11 am in the morning because the clocks have drifted out of time .
To make sure you are not getting day/night rates mixed up check that the time on the clock is within the specific night rate timings for your area .