Does Gaming Laptop Consume A Lot Of Electricity?

Laptops are energy efficient and only require a fraction of the power required by desktop computers. This is because they have to fit in mobile cases, which usually contain low-power components such as batteries or compact chipsets.

Typically, laptops consume around 85% of the power that desktops do with an average consumption rate of 200-300 watts, whereas gaming desktop computers can consume up to 900 watts without including the energy from the monitors as well!

Factors on Power Consumption

Laptops use much less energy than desktop computers, and this is because the only components that are active are usually the CPU, GPU, RAM memory, and display unit.

CPU

The CPU is the brain of a computer, containing all circuitry needed to process input and outputs. This includes data storage as well. Without such an important part of the machine, nothing can be done on it at all.

The device which controls everything about your electronics, from storing music files to powering up video game consoles relies upon continuous electrical pulses called clock cycles generated by microchips inside this important component.

The average power that a CPU uses ranges between six kilowatts per hour or 100 kWh if you have gaming laptops using Pentium-type processors running them as these CPUs need so much processing power in order to run games with high graphics settings.

GPU

The graphics card is the most power-consuming device of gaming laptops, and for good reason. The typical integrated graphics controller present in most CPUs does not have enough processing power to run modern games in high-quality settings.

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In order to deliver a smooth frame rate, your laptop needs a powerful device with fast response times capable of processing billions of color and lighting calculations.

GPUs are etched from GaN, short for gallium nitride used in creating the circuitry of each chip on your GPUs.

It is important to note that GPUs reach temperatures of over 200º F and can take up to 700 watts or more during operation. That’s why it is paramount to have an effective cooling system.

RAM Memory

The memory RAM is a component responsible for temporarily storing data on your laptop before it can be processed and sent to other components in the machine.

RAMs are much faster than hard drives, where data is stored persistently over time, and use more power as well because they operate at high clock speed rates and have high power-consuming circuitry, but they are much cheaper as well.

Memory RAMs use about 3 to 6 watts on average or around 30 kWh per year if you run a gaming laptop with 8 GB of RAM memory that uses 1.5 watts on average. This does not include the laptop’s embedded controller (EC).

Display Unit

Laptops have LCD screens, and as they are not connected to the power grid all the time, their power consumption is the bare minimum.

LCD screens work using a frame-buffer device that keeps track of what should be displayed on each pixel or dot that makes up your screen’s canvas. This requires very little energy compared to other components as the only time they draw enough power is when there’s a movement in the image.

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Other Consumption Factors

Keeping your laptop plugged for long periods of time can produce undesirable results like reduced performance and incomplete shutdowns due to overheating.

If you leave your laptop plugged while it’s not being used, the incessant spinning of your hard drive to keep data intact will burn a lot more power.  

The reason, that the spinning disk is consuming so much electricity is because the read/write head has to be frequently moved back and forth across the disk surface as it accesses sequential bits of information you need to use on your computer.

Conclusion

Laptops are more environmentally friendly than desktop computers and with the advancement of technology and software, cooling systems can even reduce power consumption.  

Moreover, there are several ways for you to save energy and power consumption, like disabling settings that you don’t really need, unplugging your system from the wall when you’re not using it (like charging your laptop), and installing more efficient power-saving software.  

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