Display Power Consumption: CRTs Versus TFT-LCDs

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An increasing number of flat panel displays are based on LED backlighting, and their manufacturers aren't shy about promoting the technology's benefits to power consumption. We checked the claims to see if the promised savings are worth emphasizing.

Benchmark Results: Movie Playback And Windows Screens

Full HD Movie Playback

Movie playback requires slightly more power on most TFT displays, due to increased display activity. The CRT displays actually need less power because of lower overall brightness.

Windows Desktop with Black Background Color

The Windows desktop with a black background again results in lower power consumption on the CRTs, but it has only a small impact on the LCDs.

Blank Microsoft Word Screen

Vice versa, the white background increases CRT display power consumption and hardly changes anything for the LCDs. Let’s look at varying brightnesses now.