How many watts of electricity does a laptop use depends on plenty of factors. It is dependent on whether you have a habit of playing a bunch of games as well as the number of hours you tune in every day.
The power consumption aspect of a laptop is something that requires deep attention. When you build an understanding of this aspect you can run your laptop with better efficiency.
A standard laptop generally consumes around 20W to 100W of electricity depending on different factors. These factors are dependent on the graphics card, CPU, memory, display time, and data transmission.
Now, today we will be dissecting how much power does your laptop work with. We will also cover some of the hottest questions like how many watts does a laptop use when charging. So, stay tuned as we are going to break down every power aspect going on in your laptop.
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How Many Watts Of Power Does A Laptop Use? Let’s Start With Some Standard Figures And Find Out
| Specific Condition | Watt Consumption |
| When the laptop is off and the battery is disconnected | 1W |
| When the laptop is off and the display is set to sleep | 1W |
| When the laptop is off and the battery is charging | 63W |
| When the laptop is on and set to idle on windows desktop | 15W |
| When the screen is set to minimum brightness | 11W |
| When the screen is set to maximum brightness | 15W |
| When the hard drive is sleeping | 14W |
What Factors Influence Your Laptop’s Energy Consumption?
1. Laptop’s Specification
A laptop doesn’t necessarily consume an ample amount of power unless you take it to its extreme. The power consumption in a basic laptop is between 20-50 watts and is easily manageable.
However, the major conflict arises when you have a gaming laptop but you still want to save some power. The chances of this happening are going to extremely slim. The reason is that a gaming laptop consumes 130-185 watts of power on average.
2. CPU engagement and Type
CPU is at the core of everything which is happening inside your laptop. It is a common assumption that a quad-core is going to consume greater watts than a dual-core does.
Not only this, but if you occasionally run high-end games and software on your laptop this sort of CPU engagement will also aid in more electricity consumption.
3. Graphics Card
A high-performance graphics card sure adds to your gaming experience. However, it comes with a cost! Yes, a high-end graphics card sucks the electricity out of your adapter like nothing else does.
When you have a high-end NVIDIA graphics card installed on your laptop. You should know that your laptop will consume a greater amount of electricity to power those crystal clear visuals.
So, if you are a gaming fanatic you should know that your laptop is going to consume a massive amount of electricity in comparison to a basic laptop.
Check the list of best gaming laptops under 800 with less power consumption.
Some Tips That Will Make Your Laptop Last Longer!
There are ample ways to make your laptop last throughout the day. With a few tweaks like putting your monitor to sleep or switching on power-saving mode. You can make your laptop’s battery more efficient and work without any hassle. Below are some of the tips that will come in handy!
1. Timely Unplug Your Charger
Often we do not pay attention to our laptop and we leave it plugged when it is fully charged. All the extra electricity that you are wasting is also affecting your battery’s health. So make a habit of never leaving your charger plugged in when your battery is full.
2. Shutdown The Laptop When It Is Sitting Idle
The answer to your query that how many watts does a laptop use when on but not active depends on how often do you leave it on. Occasionally, your laptop uses around 15W of power when it is sitting idle. Make sure that your laptop is always shut down when you are running for a coffee break or attending to a friend.
3. Take Advantage Of Laptop’s Energy Saving Options
Isn’t it nice to have a laptop that consumes less energy and has a healthy battery that lasts way longer than expected? Well, for this you will have to make some tweaks to the energy-saving options in your laptop. Just check out the energy-saving settings and set your laptop according to those settings. You will ultimately feel that your laptop’s battery is drastically improved.
You can also read, How Long Do Laptops Last?
Frequently Asked Questions:
1. How many watts does a 17-inch laptop use?
17-inch laptops usually have 90 watts adapters. There are a lot of factors that play a part in determining how much power a 17-inch laptop uses. These factors are your graphics card, memory, CPU and display time, etc.
2. Is it ok to leave a laptop plugged on all the time?
While it doesn’t necessarily cause any long-term damage to your laptop. There might be some repercussions of leaving your laptop plugged in all the time. Not only will it drain power even when the laptop is off, but your battery’s health might also get degraded.
3. Is it better to use the laptop on power or battery?
It is better to use your laptop on battery because laptops are designed to function this way. When you are using your laptop directly on the power you might face a sudden load shedding issue. This will cause your laptop to suddenly shut down, and you will lose your unsaved data.
4. What makes a laptop battery last longer?
One of the ways of making your laptop battery last longer is to use it on the low screen brightness. Besides, you should also charge your display settings so that it turns off after a certain period of non-use.
Conclusion:
The use of simple tricks can help you know your laptop’s electricity consumption better. Once you have the answer to how much electricity does a laptop use per hour?
You can make adjustments and use it efficiently without draining its battery unnecessarily. You should surely check out some tips that I have pinned in the end.
These tips will be like a helping hand in protecting your laptop’s battery from degrading. In addition, these hacks will also lower the electricity consumption of your laptop.
Good Luck!
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