Which uses more electricity. Desktop computer or laptop??

[TinkerBell]

Just wondering really as I thought it would definately be the laptop that would use less electricity, but does anyone actually know which uses less electricity?

Does anyone try and cut down on the electricity being used in your houses, like turning the sockets off and turning things off standby?

[vix]

Does anyone try and cut down on the electricity being used in your houses, like turning the sockets off and turning things off standby?

Nope, used to turn my computer off for a bit but now that stay on, most stuff is on standby.

Parents do my head in because all their electrical stuff is turned off and unplugged when not in use.

[divine]

I'd go with laptop on the basis it will generally use components geared for lower power rather than high performance though I don't know if any efficiency or lack of via the battery would have a significant effect.

[SidewinderINC]

My laptop PSU is 85W

My PC's PSU is 850W

I think that's my answer ;)

[leowyatt]

laptop without a doubt. If anyone has seen the macbook adverts it says that uses something like 1/4 of the power of a light bulb :shocked:

[TinkerBell]

My laptop PSU is 85W

My PC's PSU is 850W

I think that's my answer ;)

I am loving that answer! I think my computer is going to be redundant for a while :p It isn't just the PSU either as with a PC you have to run the monitor as well.

Electricity wasting machines!

Vix I know what you mean, that extreme would annoy me, although I don't leave my computer on when I am not using as I don't see the point. Never have though :)

Edit: Yeah I have Leo, but how much do they cost! May as well buy a cheaper laptop and have it plugged into the power socket all year!

[SidewinderINC]

laptop without a doubt. If anyone has seen the macbook adverts it says that uses something like 1/4 of the power of a light bulb :shocked:

Yeah, the new macbooks run at 60W peak, my macbook is 85W peak as I say.

[semi-pro waster]

My laptop PSU is 85W

My PC's PSU is 850W

I think that's my answer ;)

It's not quite fair to imply that the PC uses 850w though, you're absolutely right that the laptop will be far lower in power consumption terms but the PC will still only draw from the wall what it needs regardless of whether you've got a 300w PSU or a 1.3kw PSU (assuming in both cases that the systems nominal load is covered by the 300w).

Short answer is that the laptop will use less power, usually a lot less but the difference might not be hugely noticeable on power bills. You might also have to factor in time taken to do tasks depending on your uses - suppose for a second you're doing a 3D render and it takes 10 minutes on your desktop which uses 300w but 35 minutes on your laptop which uses 85w, suddenly it is a whole lot less clear-cut which is the best overall (nb I haven't worked out the figures, it's just an example).

[Will]

I turn off lights and certain devices when I don't need them (lamps, and lights are the only thing I can think of). Otherwise everything else is on standby - why turn it off? It loses it's time/memory, and it means that the remote control become redundant. I leave power supplies plugged in as I can't be arsed to faff about with plugs - and modern PSU don't user big fat transformers any more and are switch mode, so only draw a negligible amount of power when they're not in use (i.e. charging something).

To answer the question, the laptop will use less juice.

[Haly]

Does anyone try and cut down on the electricity being used in your houses, like turning the sockets off and turning things off standby?
Where possible yup. Not in the case of things like TVs or the V+ box but always unplug anything that doesn't get used much, for example the Gamecube and PS2 and phone chargers.
Every little helps and all that. :)

As my laptop spends half the day running on the battery, I assume it must save a fair bit compared to when I left the PC running all day.

[Mark]

My laptop PSU is 85W

My PC's PSU is 850W

I think that's my answer ;)

It's also wrong. :) If you tried to actually use 850W, your PSU would either turn off (if it's a good one), or just plain die (if it's a Qtek :p).

laptop without a doubt.

Only 95% true. The micro PCs (Mac Mini, the really small Dell stuff, etc.) might beat a laptop, but only when the connected monitor is switched off.

If anyone has seen the macbook adverts it says that uses something like 1/4 of the power of a light bulb :shocked:

Which is, to put it bluntly, BS. To do that, they'd have had to run it idle, with the screen off, and probably no battery. They'll also be comparing against soon to be illegal to sell incandescent lighting - put it up against an energy saver and it's game over.

As my laptop spends half the day running on the battery, I assume it must save a fair bit compared to when I left the PC running all day.

Yup, but more than it would if you left it plugged in (with similar energy saving settings). When you plug your laptop back in, some energy gets wasted making the battery hot. :)

[Haly]

Yup, but more than it would if you left it plugged in (with similar energy saving settings). When you plug your laptop back in, some energy gets wasted making the battery hot. :)

:huh: So if I left the laptop plugged in 24/7 it'd use less power than if I only had it plugged in for 4hrs a day? Or has one of us got the wrong end of the stick as I don't really get your logic? :confused:

[Mark]

You said it spends half the day running on the battery. That battery has to be recharged, so yeah, it'll use more than if you spent the same time on it but didn't use the battery at all (providing it has the same energy saving settings which rarely happens in practice). :)

[SidewinderINC]

It's not quite fair to imply that the PC uses 850w though, you're absolutely right that the laptop will be far lower in power consumption terms but the PC will still only draw from the wall what it needs regardless of whether you've got a 300w PSU or a 1.3kw PSU (assuming in both cases that the systems nominal load is covered by the 300w).

Short answer is that the laptop will use less power, usually a lot less but the difference might not be hugely noticeable on power bills. You might also have to factor in time taken to do tasks depending on your uses - suppose for a second you're doing a 3D render and it takes 10 minutes on your desktop which uses 300w but 35 minutes on your laptop which uses 85w, suddenly it is a whole lot less clear-cut which is the best overall (nb I haven't worked out the figures, it's just an example).

Oh of course, but I tried to run the system on a 400W PSU and it wouldn't go :p so I know it's drawing more than that.

My comment was more that the laptop can ONLY draw up to 85W wheras the PC will use a lot more most of the time.

[Mark]

Oh of course, but I tried to run the system on a 400W PSU and it wouldn't go :p so I know it's drawing more than that.
Probably not actually, unless it's SLI/Crossfire or heavily overclocked. :)

[divine]

Average 'high' spec PC will draw about 300-350W from the wall under heavy load.

Big PSUs are for a) peak draw headroom b) the ability to operate in better efficiency zones