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How many watts a laptop consumes should not be your concern unless you want to calculate your electricity consumption or are just curious about these machines. In this article, we have explained everything you need to know about laptop watt consumption, and we have also described how you can make your laptop consume less electricity.

Watt Consumption Factors

The watt consumption of a laptop depends upon multiple factors such as the laptop model, its screen size, CPU, GPU, and charging adapter. Gaming laptops and professional laptops used for video editing and 3D designing consume more watts than general consumer laptops. 

Below we have mentioned the main factors you need to know about. 

Laptop Type (Gaming Laptops, Professional laptops, and Consumer laptops).

As mentioned in the intro, laptop type and model is a big factor. Basic consumer laptops use an average of 60W per hour; they consume much less when they are on power-saving mode. 

Gaming laptops and professional laptops consume more than regular consumer laptops; some models can even use more than 100W per hour to find out why? Keep reading. 

Screen Size

Screen size is one of the biggest factors for electricity consumption. Usually, laptops with a 12 to 15-inch screen consume on an average 60W, and laptops with a 17-inch screen consume 90W. This is average watt consumption; as mentioned before, watt consumption varies based on the type of laptop, hardware, and other factors.

Central Processing Unit (CPU)

CPU type is another big factor; laptops with low-quality processors use more watts than laptops with high-quality, powerful processors like Intel i7, Intel i9, or other powerful CPUs by big companies. 

Graphics Processing Unit (GPU)

A Graphics card (also called a GPU, display adapter, video card) is a component that is responsible for displaying high-quality images. Most high-end laptops feature a powerful graphic card. 

Powerful graphic card means better gaming visuals, and they are also useful for professional video editors who render heavy 4k videos using tools such as Adobe After Effects, Premiere Pro, e.t.c. 

Some laptop models allow you to install a GPU of your choice if it is compatible with the motherboard, and some laptops feature dual built-in graphics cards, which are mostly used for 3D work. So if you are installing a powerful GPU or the laptop already has one, it will consume more power. 

Charging Adapter Wattage

Laptops come with charging adapters with different capacities, but the industry standard is 60W adapter for a 15-inch laptop and 90W adapter for 17-inch laptops. The powerful the laptop is, the heavier the charging adapter will be. 

How Many Watts Does a Gaming Laptop Use?

The answer to this question is, it depends. There are hundreds of gaming laptop models manufactured by multiple companies. As we have mentioned before, gaming laptops use more watts than basic consumer laptops. 

Gaming laptops feature a powerful GPU with other heavy components. All of these models are slightly different from each other because of the components they use. A powerful gaming laptop like Razer Blade 15 uses 230W, which is almost four times more than regular laptops. 

How Many Watts Does an Apple Macbook Use?

If you are looking for watt consumption of a laptop, you should first check charging adapter wattage. The heavier the charging adapter is, the higher the watt consumption will be.

• 13-inch MacBook Pro comes with a 61W USB-C charging adapter with cable. (Models introduced in 2016 or later)
• 15-inch Macbook Pro comes with an 87W USB-C charging adapter with cable. (Models introduced in 2016 or later)
• 16-inch MacBook Pro comes with a 96W USB-C charging adapter with cable. (Models introduced in 2019) 

To find the right charging adapter, you can visit Apple Support.

If you want to calculate the everyday electricity consumption of your MacBook, below, we have explained how you can do that. 

How to Calculate Your Laptop’s Wattage Consumption

As mentioned above, you can easily check the wattage consumption by checking the laptop’s charging adapter’s maximum power input. But to find out an accurate figure, either you need to calculate watt consumption of all the components manually or use an electricity usage monitor.

1.) Calculate the watt consumption of all the components: We don’t recommend calculating watt consumption this way since this process is pretty time consuming, but we are still going to explain how it’s done.

First, you need to find out what components your laptop uses and search their wattage consumption individually on Google. 

The main laptop components, like CPU and GPU, are manufactured by popular companies like Intel, NVIDIA, and AMD. You can visit their website and check the accurate power consumption of all the components. 

Average Consumption of GPU, CPU, and brightness

The average consumption of GPU is 75W to 80W, and the average CPU consumption is 45W to 50W. And the screen brightness consumes about 0.5W to 15W per hour. There are other components like your Ram, HDD/SSD, and keyboard backlight, and it’s hard to calculate their consumption; thus, it’s not the right way, and you should use an electricity usage monitor instead.

2.) Electricity usage monitor: You can purchase an electricity usage monitor and plug it in the wall socket, and the device will tell you the exact watt consumption of your laptop (Real-time), and then you can also calculate your everyday electricity consumption.

How to Make Your Laptop Consume Less Power

If you think your laptop is consuming more power, below, we have mentioned some ways to save electricity. 

• Make sure the charger is plugged in properly
• Always use the charging adapter that comes with the laptop.
• Make sure you don’t overcharge your laptop, it damages the battery, and it can start consuming more power. 
• Plugin your charger when the battery on your laptop is around 10%. Don’t let the laptop turn off. A completely drained battery consumes more power. 
• Buying a cooling pad is also a good idea; it prevents overheating and helps save watt consumption.
• If your laptop is consuming more power than it should, it could be because of faulty hardware, which is overheating, so make sure all parts are working fine. 

Laptop Vs PC Watt Consumption

Even the most powerful laptops consume less watts than most PCs do. As we have mentioned before, the average consumption of a laptop is 60W, and for PCs, it can be more than 400W because of heavy PSUs. So, laptops are a better option if you are worried about your electricity bill. 

How Does Power-Saving Mode Reduce Consumption?

Most power-saving modes on laptops and smartphones are programmed to either limit CPU usage or reduce screen brightness to save battery life. 

Limiting CPU Performance: When turned on, the power saving mode will limit CPU usage and its performance. You can see the effect while gaming or editing videos, but it does not impact regular use like browsing and audio/video playback.

Screen Power Saving: Power saving mode can also lower screen brightness and reduce framerate along with limiting CPU usage. 

FAQs

Q. How many watt does a 15-inch laptop consume?

A. Most 15-inch laptops consume an average of 60W.

Q. How many watt does a 17-inch laptop consume?

A. Most 17-inch laptops consume an average of 90W.

Q. Does watt has anything to do with overheating?

A. If you are building your PC and you choose the wrong power supply that is not designed to handle heavy components that consume hundreds of watts. It can create overheating issues, and your system can even fail. 

But laptops go through multiple tests before they are available for sale, so you don’t have to worry about that.

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