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Have you ever wondered what is the wattage consumption of your laptop charger? How many watts does a laptop charger use? Of course, we all have.
If you are concerned about power saving, or you just want to be economical about your laptop energy consumption, then you have to take the charger’s wattage into account as well.
Knowing the wattage consumption of your laptop charger can also help you lower the power consumption of your laptop overall. This can have a positive impact on your electricity and general energy usage.
For that, you will also need to know the different factors affecting the power consumption of a laptop. In this guide, we will answer all your questions regarding the wattage of your laptop charger.
Let’s get started.
How many Watts does a Laptop Charger Use?
Typically, a standard laptop charger uses 40-100 watts of electricity (equal to 40-10 kilowatt-hours), depending on the laptop’s demands. Typical efficiency of 70% is assumed for the charging process, with the remaining 30% being counted as waste in the form of heat and radiation which escapes into the environment.
Remember that charging is tied to power consumption, and it will change according to the needs of the laptop.
How to Check the Wattage Consumption of Your Laptop Charger?
You can also check the wattage consumption of your laptop adapter quite easily yourself. For this purpose, you will need the volts and current requirements, which can be found out using different methods. Here, we will outline some of the more mainstream methods of checking your laptop charger’s wattage consumption.
Checking Your Charger’s Power Brick
The very first method you can use to find your laptop charger’s wattage is to look at the power brick itself. Simply grab your laptop power adapter brick and look for a “W” symbol on it. It is usually clearly written in a prominent place, sometimes in bold letters.
The number next to the “W” symbol will be your charger’s wattage.
Some laptop chargers do not contain this information, even though they should. For those chargers, we will need to employ different methods to check the wattage consumption.
Calculating Your Laptop Wattage
If you cannot get the wattage information directly from the charger, you can calculate it using a little bit of math. For this process, we will first need the voltage and current consumption values of the charger. These values are commonly found on all chargers.
Examine your laptop’s power brick and look for the sticker. On the sticker, you should see the word “Output” written prominently, with the values of voltage and current in front of it. Note down those values. You can also find out these values from the user manual of the laptop itself.
After that, we will need to find the wattage of the laptop power adapter using the voltage and current values. To find out the wattage, we use the following formula:
Watts = Volts x Amperes
Let’s say your laptop charger’s voltage is 19.5 Volts and the current output is 3.34 Amperes. After multiplication, we get the value of 65.13 Watts which will be the wattage consumption of your laptop power supply.
Using this method, you can find the wattage consumption of any number of devices, if you can find out the relevant voltage and current values.
Visiting the Manufacturer’s Website
Failing the above-mentioned methods, you can also try to find the wattage information directly from the manufacturer’s website. Be sure to visit the website of the charger manufacturer (if it is separate) and the laptop manufacturer as well.
You can also try to look for this information in the user manual of the laptop. It is usually mentioned in the “voltages” section of laptop user manuals.
Factors Affecting Power Consumption of Laptop
The power consumption of a laptop is determined by the load that is being put on the battery by the laptop’s internal components. Even if you remove the battery from the equation, a laptop’s direct power consumption is a result of the work done by the internal components of the laptop.
This means that whatever processes or workloads you run on your laptop will ultimately determine the overall wattage consumption of your laptop power supply.
Graphics Card
One of the most important factors affecting the power consumption of a laptop is the graphics card. A laptop with a discrete graphics card (or GPU) will consume more power than one with integrated graphics. This is because a discrete card has its own dedicated processor and memory, which require more battery power to operate.
Additionally, laptop graphics cards can vary significantly in terms of power efficiency. Some models are designed to be very efficient, while others may consume a lot of power even when idle. As a result, when choosing gaming laptops, it’s important to consider not only the type of graphics card but also its power consumption.
Otherwise, you may find that your gaming laptop doesn’t perform as well as you’d hoped or that it doesn’t have the battery life you need.
CPU
While laptop computers are designed to be highly portable, they still require a significant amount of power to operate. One of the biggest factors in laptop power consumption is the CPU or central processing unit.
The faster the CPU, the more power it will generally consume. As a result, laptop manufacturers often offer a range of CPUs to choose from, with each one offering a different balance of performance and power consumption. For example, a laptop with a high-end CPU may offer better performance but may also need a higher battery capacity.
By contrast, a laptop with a low-power CPU may not be as fast but will often run for longer on a single charge. As such, it is important to consider power consumption when choosing a CPU for a laptop computer.
Display
Laptop power consumption can also vary depending on the display settings. For example, if you have the laptop set to “high performance” mode, it will use full power than if it’s set to “balanced” mode. The laptop display also affects power consumption based on its type and resolution.
A laptop with a higher screen resolution will use more power than a laptop with a lower screen resolution. Conversely, a laptop with a higher screen brightness will use more power than a laptop with lower screen brightness.
Finally, the backlight setting on the laptop display also affects power consumption. A laptop with a backlight set to “on” will use more battery than a laptop with the backlight set to “off”. Nowadays, we are also seeing more and more high-refresh-rate displays on laptops which significantly increase power consumption.
Workload
One of the most important factors affecting laptop power consumption is the workload. When the laptop is running heavy applications, it will require increased power and hence the battery will run down faster.
Conversely, if you are only using your laptop for light tasks such as browsing the internet or word processing, it will consume less power and the battery will last longer. In order to extend the battery life, it is important to understand how different workloads affect power consumption.
For example, watching a video will require more power than simply reading a text document. Similarly, playing a graphics-intensive game will drain the battery much faster than working on a spreadsheet.
Background Processes
Of course, the power consumption of a laptop can also be affected by the background processes running on the laptop. There can be hundreds of processes running in the background at any given time on a Windows laptop, and some of those processes can put a significant strain on your power source.
This also includes Startup applications that automatically boot up once the system starts. These applications can increase your laptop’s power consumption significantly, so it is best to disable the Startup option for applications that are not crucial to your workflow.
How Much Power is Used by External Devices?
External devices that are plugged into a laptop can have an impact on the laptop’s power consumption. If a laptop is plugged into a power strip, the power strip can act as a buffer, regulating the flow of power and helping to prevent spikes and dips in voltage. However, if the power strip is not working properly, it can cause the laptop to consume more battery than necessary.
In addition, devices that are plugged into the laptop’s USB ports can also affect power consumption. If a USB device is drawing too much power, it can cause the laptop to consume more energy in order to compensate.
Heavy devices such as external hard drives and SSDs can draw a significant amount of power from the laptop. Modern laptops are also equipped with Thunderbolt ports, which can allow even more current to the external devices.
As a result, it is important to be aware of how external devices can impact a laptop’s power consumption.
Methods to Lower Your Laptop’s Power Consumption
As we have established the different factors that affect the power consumption of a laptop, and subsequently the power supply, we can look at ways to lower your laptop’s power consumption.
Lowering a laptop’s overall power consumption has lots of benefits. Not only can you save the amount of electricity being used, but you can also cool down your laptop and extend its lifespan.
If you are wondering how many watts does a laptop use, we have also done a guide on that topic.
Use Battery Saver
A laptop’s battery saver mode is a great way to reduce your laptop’s power consumption. When you enable the laptop battery saver, your laptop will automatically enter sleep mode when not in use. This can help to reduce your laptop’s power consumption by up to 50%.
Laptop battery saver mode can be enabled in the power settings menu of your laptop. Simply open the power settings menu and select the “enable laptop battery saver” option. Once enabled, your laptop will automatically enter sleep mode after a period of inactivity.
You can also manually put your laptop into sleep mode by pressing the power button.
Reduce Workload
One of the primary methods of reducing the laptop’s power consumption is to reduce the amount of load on the laptop. As we have established before, the amount of power consumed by the laptop is directly proportional to the workload on the laptop.
This means that if you avoid putting the laptop under a heavy load, it can drastically reduce its power consumption. Gaming, rendering, video editing, animation, streaming, etc. all fall under heavy workloads, therefore they should be avoided if you are trying to lower the power consumption of your laptop.
By understanding how workload affects power consumption, you can take steps to reduce your laptop’s power usage and prolong its battery life.
More Methods
In addition to using the battery saver, you can also try the following methods to lower the power consumption of the laptop:
- Reduce Background Processes
- Remove Startup Applications
- Reduce Screen Brightness
- Turn off External Devices
By streamlining your laptop usage patterns and implementing the above-mentioned techniques, you can reduce the power consumption of your laptop, and subsequently, the wattage that your laptop charger consumes.
FAQs:
Are laptop chargers universal?
Laptop chargers are not universal. You should always use the laptop charger that came with your device. Although there are some generic chargers available on the market, they are not compatible with every laptop in the world. Using a mismatched power supply can damage your battery, and can even your laptop in extreme scenarios.
Can I use a 65 Watt charger on a 90 Watt laptop?
You can use a 65 Watt charger on a 90 Watt laptop. However, the 65W charger might not be powerful enough to deliver a charge to your laptop’s battery at an acceptable rate. In this case, your laptop might start drawing energy from the battery instead, which means that your battery percentage will drop even when the laptop is plugged in.
Can you damage a laptop by using the wrong charger?
You can definitely damage a laptop by using the wrong charger. Using a charger with a different voltage spec than your laptop can lead to catastrophic damage. Higher voltage can end up permanently damaging your laptop’s battery or its internal components. Therefore, always use the power supply that is specifically designed to work with your laptop.