iMac Power Usage, compared to PCs

[sjs]

When I bought my first mac everyone immediately noticed how quiet it was compared to the PCs we had owned for years. MacNN today references an article about the quality and quietness of iMacs.

**Does anyone know how much power the flat panel imac consumes compared to something like a P4 with fans, etc., and a 17" CRT?** If we had actual numbers you could calculate annual energy savings and cost savings. I know this is kind of boring stuff, however it's a real factor...it really ought to be of concern to us if we can save on our utility bills and "save the planet".

 

[sjs]

By the way, I remember seeing an article about a year ago somewhere that flat panels produce enough less heat than a CRT that you can actually calculate a savings of air conditioning costs. Also, they consume a lot less power. Hey, the new iMac is GREEN too!

 

[Choppaface]

i think some guy a while ago said a P4 chip uses like 70 watts while a G4 chip uses like 17. not sure on actual numbers. but ya they do heat up the place. one day there was a power outage at my home during the day so my computer went off while I was at school, but I usually leave it on all day to run SETI. when I got him the room was 64F. turning the computer back on any my 22" monitor got the room back up to normal 69F in no time

 

[Onyxx]

i've been making this a point about superior mac engineering for years. Mac always perform at lower temperatures than pc's (hence lower energy drain) and because of this Macs need half as many fans (if any) and can use heat sinks. a p4 has something like 4-5 fans in it where as your iMac has 1 itty bitty little fan. A perfect case point in pc vs. Mac as far as power consumption goes is laptops. Your new "mobile" p4's will just eck out 2 hours per battery full usage where as a tibook will average 4. And if a remember correctly, a lot of pc's use larger batteries (6500 or 6400 wHrs vs 4800 i think). So where does all the juice go? To that hot power hungry processor and to its extensive cooling apparatus. the first thing you will notice with 90 % of pc laptops is that a fan will start up as soon as its turned on. I have never to the day had my fan turn on on my powerbook. Just a little food for thought.

 

[Rower_CPU]

LCD alone makes a huge difference...

The difference between an LCD and a CRT is huge!

LCDs require much less power to run, and as was noted previously, they put out less heat as well.

Here's a breakdown of systems:
iMac -
Maximum continuous power: 130W

Dell Dimension 4400 (P4 1.6 - 2.0 GHz) -
Output Wattage: 250W maximum continuous
Heat Dissipation: 534 BTU/hour (fully loaded - w/o monitor)

Wattage specs on CRTs are kinda tough to narrow down, and vary pretty widley from brand to brand. But the P4 is already sucking about 2x as much juice as the iMac, without a monitor...

 

[davidc2182]

About the laptop power consumption

Personally I get about 3.5 hours of note taking use on my ibook in classic mode, and about 2.5 hours in OS X.1.3, If I lower the screen brightness i might get an extra 30 minutes in X but how come I cannot spin down the hard drive in X? All i know is that when using intensive CDrom or DVD apps the life of an ibook or peecee laptop is about the same 1.5 to 2 hours max! i do not know about the powerbook but that 5 hour battery claim is a load of crap! and on the iPod the battery I got lasted max 3 hours on a full charge without skipping around at all so i dunno whatsup with that either!

 

[Choppaface]

i get about 2-3 hours out of my G3 PB lombard under heavy use (photoshop editing of 100+ 4 meg files at a time) with dual batteries both about 2 to 3 years old. I got a new battery for it and that added about an hour of life. but ya the CD really puts a drain on it...cuz, well its spinning that CD around he he
my walkman hardly gets 2 hours on its rechargeables

 

[Falleron]

I only have one complaint about my PowerMac Dual 1Ghz!! It does sound like a truck is going by!!!

 

[Grokgod]

A truck? Diesel or gas engine?

Is your dual really that noisy?

I thought that the dual was quiet, i thought that it only had one fan?

are you saying that its noisier than a PC.

What making that noise ? multiple fans , the HD , the power supply?

I wanna know before i buy this new system!

 

[Falleron]

I have heard louder PC's. However, I also heard many that are softer sounding. If you put your hand behind my machine it really does chuck out a lot of heat. Its not really a problem to me because I have music on while I am working, but it certainly is a consideration. My computer is quite a bit louder than I expected it to be.

The HD is almost silent, its just seems to be the large fan.

 

[Rower_CPU]

Re: About the laptop power consumption

Originally posted by davidc2182
Personally I get about 3.5 hours of note taking use on my ibook in classic mode, and about 2.5 hours in OS X.1.3, If I lower the screen brightness i might get an extra 30 minutes in X but how come I cannot spin down the hard drive in X? All i know is that when using intensive CDrom or DVD apps the life of an ibook or peecee laptop is about the same 1.5 to 2 hours max! i do not know about the powerbook but that 5 hour battery claim is a load of crap! and on the iPod the battery I got lasted max 3 hours on a full charge without skipping around at all so i dunno whatsup with that either!

There is an option in system prefs to spin down the hard drive...look for it.

If your iPod battery is only going for three hours, you need to check that you're fully charging it. If it's fully charged and only getting three hours, take it back. I usually get anywhere from 8 to 10 hours of playback.

 

[King Cobra]

I used to get about two to three hours of battery life from the iPod . . . Then I realized that I was loading with AIFF files. Whoops!

Actually, the iMac uses much less power than even ANY Powermac G4 desktop, 130W to 200W. (For a reference check out www.apple-history.com .) So for those who just want something for Photoshop, OS X, or something along those lines, while using absolutely minimal energy, get an iMac.
_________________

I have a hat with my name on it!

 

[Choppaface]

i dont know why people have a thing for quiet computers. i like a bit of noise from the hard drive...lets you know its doing something

 

[Rower_CPU]

Originally posted by Choppaface
i dont know why people have a thing for quiet computers. i like a bit of noise from the hard drive...lets you know its doing something

There is a big difference between hearing the HD and hearing loud fans. My PC has a grand total of 5 fans in the case, 1 on the CPU and smaller ones on the video card and mobo. When I start the thing up it sounds like a jet revving for takeoff. The real culprit in my case is the fan on the CPU (Delta @ 38 cfm and 45 dba/6800 rpm) that has a high-pitched whine.

I love going to _any_ Mac and not having an ear-splitting squeal emanating from the machine.