Kill-a-Watt readings: speaker system and Atom-based touchscreen PC

[Dermbrian]

I just bought a Kill-a-Watt electricity usage meter.  One of the first things I checked was my Logitech Z2300 2.1 computer speaker system that I use with my jukebox apps.  I tend to absent-mindedly leave the speakers on all the time, even overnight, despite the fact they have a convenient pushbutton power switch on the volume control/remote.

Speakers turned off:  6 watts (so much for 'off' being 'off')
Speakers turned on, no input:  18 watts
Speakers turned on, playing music fairly loud (too loud for normal conversation in the room):  23 watts

18 watts is about the same usage as a '75 watt' compact fluorescent light bulb.

Next, my PC.

MSI All-In-One AE1900-05SUS 18.5-Inch Touch Screen Desktop PC (Atom 330 processor version, frakking Vista)

Computer turned off:  5 watts
Computer 'up', firefox open:  ~50 watts
Computer 'up', hulu.com full screen:  ~54 watts
Computer put to sleep:  5 watts

That 5 watts when putting Vista to sleep fully was good news.  About the power of a night light and it comes up much faster than a power off full reboot.


Obviously, the easiest significant savings can be had by only turn the speakers on when I need them, and/or throwing them on their own switched power strip.  The computer goes into its sleep mode very well on its own.


Now on to the other household PC's, TV's, DVD players, phone chargers, and other low-hanging fruit.

Brian