Netbook power consumption

r2rdcroix

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Mar 11, 2010
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Hi guys,

Any of you have tested power consumption and performance on netbooks plugged with LED Monitor as external display.. what's the average on watts/hours if we do office/productivity apps compare with other mobile processors.

Cheers
 
Solution
Here is an idea of a Netbooks power consumption:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/atom-d510-d510mo,2507-8.html?xtmc=atom_power_consumption&xtcr=2

A Notebook with the new Core i3:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/mobile-core-i5-arrandale,2522-11.html

The CPU itself normally takes about 8-15w depending on which one you get at maximum load. This shows the Atom based Netbook at 25-26w under full load while the Core i3 hits 54w under full load.

So in essence, this would be the more efficient way to go for office productivity compared to a non Netbook based CPU.
Here is an idea of a Netbooks power consumption:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/atom-d510-d510mo,2507-8.html?xtmc=atom_power_consumption&xtcr=2

A Notebook with the new Core i3:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/mobile-core-i5-arrandale,2522-11.html

The CPU itself normally takes about 8-15w depending on which one you get at maximum load. This shows the Atom based Netbook at 25-26w under full load while the Core i3 hits 54w under full load.

So in essence, this would be the more efficient way to go for office productivity compared to a non Netbook based CPU.
 
Solution

gracefully

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Jan 30, 2010
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The netbook will consume around 30 watts. If you use an external monitor, that could be another 50 watts. So that's around 80 watts total.

If you use a desktop, it will consume about 70-100 watts. So with a monitor, that's 120-150 watts.
 

MarkG

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Oct 13, 2004
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I've never seen my netbook (N270 plus crappy Intel IGP) go over 12W, even under load. Though that's power draw from the battery, so it would take a bit more from the wall.

I'd guess that would also go down a couple of watts if using an external monitor.
 

joefriday

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This man is right. The "best answer" is wrong on power consumption numbers (but still correct that the atom is less power consuming than a non-atom processor). Refer to my article on SPCR where I compared the netbook to my old Pentium M laptop, it should answer plenty of questions:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=53860
 


Not sure how its wrong. The Netbook that you used is different from the one I found on THG so power numbers will be different.

But yours is comparing it to a much older Pentium M instead of something more modern like a Core i3.

I thought a Core i3 for comparison would be better since thats more towards what you will find laptop wise.

I wish every Atom based Netbook would have the same power usage, but thats not possible since evry OEM is different in what they will give it beyond the CPU/mobo, hell some even have a discrete GPU for gaming that will up the power usage.
 

MarkG

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Unless I'm mistaken, the THG article you linked to isn't even testing netbooks, they're desktop systems. The article itself says that the D510 is a desktop dual-core Atom with a power-consumption more than twice as high as the single-core aimed at netbooks.