How does a laptop use so little power?

Dolby

Dolby

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Hi,

How does a laptop so little power compared to a desktop? :/

I mean, what's preventing them sticking a little battery into desktops that enable it to run 5 minutes just to save and shut down?
 
If Eskom was the worldwide electricity supplier, then computers would have that function.
 
My 17" laptop gets at least four hours on a full charge and draws 85w when it is recharging but then thats what it has been designed to do.

I guess desktops dont need to worry about minimizing power use so they dont.
 
That is why laptop components are more expensive than desktops. Cos they have to 'miniaturise' the technology which costs more moola.
 
Laptops use CPU's designed for minimal power usage.

Also, the laptop manufacturers constrained themselves to battery usage, and have to find ways and means of keeping power consumption down.

Servers, on the other hand, doesn't have any constraints regarding power usage, but things are changing with manufacturers beginning to plan and produce more energy-efficient servers.
 
Freshy-ZN said:
That is why laptop components are more expensive than desktops. Cos they have to 'miniaturise' the technology which costs more moola.
Click to expand...

Dont forget about supply and demand..The more demand there is for a product the more that is produced and the cheaper it becomes. Most PC hardware follows that pattern.

Laptops used to be very expensive and you couldnt get anything for under R1k just a few years ago. Now the laptop has become fashionable and your Ferrari laptops are going for 10k plus. The demand for laptops has grown considerably...

The laptop/PC is a perfect example of capitalism. The laptop is much more advanced than the PC and had we all been forced to make the switch, we would all be using smaller PC's that use less power ( except for gamers) but no, they instead kept the two markets and managed to milk us for a long time.

Just think if all desktops used the same boards and hardware as Laptops how much more greener would that be.
 
I just think it would be cool if desktops had a battery built in ... even to last 10 minutes to shut down :/ I mean if 85w uses 4 hours, surely that same battery could power a desktop for 10 minutes
 
Dolby said:
I just think it would be cool if desktops had a battery built in ... even to last 10 minutes to shut down :/ I mean if 85w uses 4 hours, surely that same battery could power a desktop for 10 minutes
Click to expand...
Most countries probably have no need - they have a reliable power source and its not worth the added expense.
 
lol. The reason is that laptops are designed to use a certain amount of power, which is allowed because the components are usually set in their design. There's little that one can do to upgrade. Desktops on the other hand come equipped with PSU's and expansions slots which allow for upgrades. One can't add four hard drives and a graphics card the size of your arm to a laptop because the design doesn't allow for it. You can do it on a desktop, however it will obviously start drawing more power.

If we're not taking upgrades into consideration then most of the reasons already mentioned would apply.
 
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