How much power a macbook pro would consume with its display off? (Not in sleep mode)?

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Level 1

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How much power a macbook pro would consume with its display off? (Not in sleep mode)?

I leave my macbook pro on all day and night with the lid closed without it going to sleep (I use an app called NoSleep), I have it plugged to my TV as an external monitor. The reason I do this is because I want to be able to just turn on my TV and have vlc ready to go (I operate that from my iPhone).

My question is: In this state (always on but with the display off), would it impact a lot on my power bill?

Thank you in advance!

P.D. Im planning on buying a Mac Mini to replace this laptop in the near future, will I notice the difference in any way?

Posted on Jul 28, 2013 5:52 AM

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Answer 1

John Galt

Level 10

157,130 points

Jul 28, 2013 7:31 AM in response to joseasse

The answer depends on the specific MacBook Pro model, but the difference in total power consumption between display "on" vs. display "off" is approximately 10W for a 13" Retina display and about half that for a non-Retina display. For the 15" models, add about two watts to that number for the Retina and about one watt for the non-Retina.

Power consumption specifications are publicly available.

At 15¢ / kWh (a high estimate) it will cost very approximately $20 a year in electricity to operate a MacBook Pro all day, every day. Of course most people will be using theirs a lot less than 100% of the time.

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Answer 2

OGELTHORPE

Level 9

57,329 points

Jul 28, 2013 7:11 AM in response to joseasse

You could use a clamp Amp meter and measure the AC current and then do the math based on your local rates.

Ciao.

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Answer 3

joseasse Author

Level 1

0 points

Jul 28, 2013 9:01 AM in response to joseasse

Thank you all for your answers.

Just to clarify, what im doing right now has nothing to do with power saving, its just to be confortable, since im using that laptop exclusively to play videos through vlc to my bethroom TV, and having it available at the click of a button (the remote tv) without having to wait for the computer to start up or return for sleep mode (because this would make me have to resolve network folders again and I have to use a mouse for this or logmein or something like that, whcih im trying to avoid).

In other words the objective of my setup is to be a le to:

1) Turn on TV

2) select media from another computer in my network wth VLC remote, and click play.

This is the only way i found that lets me do that with no other steps or waiting in between.

As I said it was only to clarify since you guys answered my question. Thank you once again for the quick response!

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Answer 4

Jul 28, 2013 7:06 AM in response to joseasse

It depends what is running on the computer. If wifi, bluetooth, or cpu intensive programs are running then your computer will use power. If nothing is running it won't use much power. The display is not the only thing using power on your computer.

But in my opinion you are worrying about trivial power saving activities. You are not saving any significant money on your bill by doing what you are doing.

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