Most households have laptops as some people work from home and others carry their work home. Others also use these machines for other things rather than work. So, how much electricity does a laptop use? This is the question you may ask yourself if you plan to start working from your home office because you may want to know if your electricity bills will increase.
Adding a new electrical appliance to the home means the electricity bills will shoot slightly or significantly depending on the machine. And knowing the amount of electricity your house uses will help you plan well for the future.
Generally, a laptop consumes an average of 30-200 watts per hour. However, this is just a generalization and needs to be revised, as power consumption varies depending on several factors. In this article, we shall look at how much electricity a laptop uses, the factors influencing its energy consumption, and many more.
How Much Electricity Does a Laptop Use?
On average, a laptop uses 30-200 watts per hour. However, this is not always the case, as the amount of power that your laptop consumes is determined by different factors. You can calculate to get a more accurate figure.
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The most common laptop wattage is 65W. But this is only for the average laptop. Other machines, like gaming laptops, use more power. Their power consumption ranges from 30W to 350W. The wattage increase with an increase in high-performance settings.
How much electricity does a laptop use per month?
As mentioned, a laptop can use between 30-200 watts per hour, so it is easy to calculate the monthly energy consumption. If your laptop consumes 65 watts per hour and works 8 hours a day, you use 520 watts per day.
To get the total wattage used per month, you’ll multiply the daily usage by 30 to get the total wattage. So, if you use 520 watts daily, you’ll use 15,600 watts of electricity monthly.
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All laptops have the maximum wattage they can draw from the plug, and you can always find this information on the manufacturer’s website. Although this amount refers to how much laptops can use, they consume much less power than the indicated amount.
How Much Does it Cost to Run a Laptop?
Your laptop’s operating costs are determined by how many watts it consumes per hour, how many hours you use each day, and the cost of power in your area. If you use your laptop for 8 hours each day and it uses 50 watts per hour, it will use 400 watts per day and 12,000 watts per month. In the United States, electricity costs 15 cents per kilowatt.
How to Calculate How Much Power a Laptop Uses
a) Using an Electric Usage Monitor
How many watts do laptops use, and how can you figure it out? An Electric Usage Monitor is a gadget that can be placed above the power outlet and may indicate how much power your laptop uses while charging, which can help you make a more precise estimate.
The best thing is that the calculation considers everything since all the power used originates from a single plug. Other home appliances could likewise be monitored with this gadget.
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It only requires you to plug the device into the wall socket and the laptop’s charger. The device will then automatically detect how much power is being drawn by the charger from the socket. Initially, it would display the charging adapter’s preset wattage.
Additionally, this gadget can track how your laptop is being used through its battery. It is also useful in determining how much power your laptop has used over time.
b) Using a Kill a Watt Meter
You can also use a kill-a-watt meter to see how much energy your laptop consumes. A kill-a-watt meter is a device that people use when they want to get accurate results about energy usage on electronics.
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To use this device, connect it to the laptop plug and then to the wall socket. Then use the laptop like you normally would. The meter will show you the number of units your laptop consumes in real-time.
How Much Power Do Gaming Laptops Consume?
Gaming laptops are different because they are almost always superior in every way. Because of this, they are also heavier and thicker. Gaming laptops come with everything, including powerful processors and long-lasting batteries.
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You can start by looking at the power specifications of the gaming laptop charger. A practical example is the Acer Predator Helios 300, which has a 180-watt charger and signifies that the laptop’s maximum power consumption would never exceed 180W per hour.
The maximum power rating for this laptop is 135W. So, a gaming laptop does not surpass the maximum-rated power on the adapter. However, the average power consumption is sometimes higher than the rated maximum laptop power. Though, it can never be higher than the charger’s capacity.
Factors Influencing How Much Electricity a Laptop Uses
a) Laptop Type
Using relatively basic and standard computers like NoteBooks usually consumes about 60 watts per hour. However, high-end and gaming laptops would require more.
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Few of those models could, on average, use up to 100 watts per hour, which explains why most laptops get quite hot and require a cooling pad to prevent overheating.
b) Graphics Card
A high-end laptop typically includes a high-end GPU paired with a high-end CPU. In most cases, it also includes a better display and a larger battery, making it better.
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More energy is required while using a high-performance graphics card, mainly when gaming, because the GPU would produce better pictures.
c) CPU Type
A laptop’s CPU type also matters. Simply put, a laptop with a low-grade CPU or processor will use less energy than a laptop with a robust CPU. On a laptop, a CPU that renders the computation gradually uses less energy than a CPU that renders the work quickly. Therefore, a laptop’s energy usage increases with CPU power.
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d) Adapter Wattage
Laptops are delivered with a charger and an adapter that can output a certain number of watts. If your laptop has a 60-watt adapter, it will use less energy than laptops with a 90-watt adapter since the number of watts determines how much energy is used in an hour.
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How To Minimize Laptop Electricity Usage
Did you know you can do a few things to minimize the electricity your laptop uses? Here are a few tips.
a) Change the Settings
You can put your laptop in sleep mode instead of leaving it running when it is not in use. This practice reduces your laptop’s power consumption, saving up to $15 per laptop annually.
b) Disconnect External Devices
External devices also consume power. Therefore, if you have connected any external devices you don’t use, you may be draining power that you can easily save. Some external devices that may drain energy include printers, webcams, speakers, and hard drives.
c) Shutdown the Laptop and Unplug it When Not in Use
Disconnecting and turning off your laptop is the most effective way to conserve energy when not in use. Unplugging your laptop from the power outlet is crucial since it will utilize standby power when connected, even when shut down.
d) Use the Charger Wisely
It’s vital to remember not to leave your laptop charging while the battery is already full and only to leave it plugged in when you are merely charging it. By continuing to charge it, standby power will be used, which could deteriorate the battery. A damaged battery would consume much more energy than one in good condition.
e) Set the Computer to Energy-Saving Mode
This is another method to save power while using your laptop. You can use energy-saving or low-power settings to lower your power usage and make your laptop battery last longer. You can also reduce screen brightness and increase it when necessary.
Frequently Asked Questions on How Much Electricity a Laptop Uses
1. How many watts does a laptop use in 7 hours?
Averagely, a laptop uses 50 watts of electricity per hour. This is an equivalent of 0.05kWh.Therefore, if a laptop is on for 7 hours, it will consume 350 watts.
2. Does leaving my laptop plugged in use a lot of electricity?
When you leave your laptop plugged in, even when fully charged, it uses about 4.5 kilowatt-hours in a week or up to 235 kilowatt-hours in a year. However, remember that this value may vary depending on your laptop’s model and battery.
2. Does a laptop use less electricity than a desktop computer?
Laptops consume up to 80% less electricity than desktop computers. Desktop computers use more power. However, their total power consumption is also determined by different factors, including the type of laptop, its CPU, and graphics card, among other factors.
3. How many watts does a laptop need to fully charge?
A laptop’s watts consumption varies depending on many factors. A wall adapter typically outputs at least 29 watts to give a laptop more power than it consumes when left on.
4. How does one calculate a laptop’s electricity consumption?
A wattmeter is one of the best ways to check your laptop’s power consumption. They are the best if you check your laptop’s power usage often. Wattmeters offer the most accurate results, with an estimated error margin of only 0.5%.
