Macbook Power Consumption

[Phatpat]

I need to find the power consumption of a Macbook, preferably the 1.83ghz model. Any ideas?

 

[scott523]

I had the old MB and have the new MB (both 2.0GHz though) now and so far, I'd say there's little difference. IMO, you could prolly get 10 minutes more or less from the previous MB and I think there's still too much power consumed.

 

[SiliconAddict]

Wonderful thing the web.

http://www.apple.com/macbook/specs.html

 

[Phatpat]

I want power, in Watts, during normal usage. The wattage of the power supply doesn't directly correlate to this.

The Environmental Attributes Sheet Apple posts (here: http://www.apple.com/environment/resources/specs.html) lists 17W idle, but I'd like some numbers under basic usage; web browsing, itunes, and the like.

 

[clicq]

This could be fuzzy math, but here's one attempt at giving you an average power usage number.

Doing normal things (surfing the web with iChat and iTunes), I get about 3 hours of battery life. Apple claims the battery is a 55 watt-hour battery. According to Wikipedia, one watt-hour is equivalent to 3,600 joules. A watt is defined, according to Wikipedia, as 1 joule/second.

Thus, 55 watt-hours is 198000 joules, 3 hours is 10800 seconds, and the power consumption averages 198000/10800 watts = 18.33 watts.

I could be completely wrong on this, but I think it's about as good an answer as you'll get, unless someone has a Kill-a-watt power meter.

I have a 2.0ghz Macbook by the way

 

[Nemesis90]

Kill-a-Watt

If it's worth $30 to find out, you might try the Kill-A-Watt. It basically goes between a device and the outlet and measures power consumption.

http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/electronic/7657/

 

[TequilaBoobs]

when i lived w/my much older cousin, he made me lick the battery to gauge its power. you should do the same.

 

[Phatpat]

Nice. Seems like it might be a legit thought process, but 18.33 seems too little above the idle power consumption of 17. I'll check it with some friends later; unfortunately I need it by Tuesday and won't have time to order a Kill-a-watt.

This could be fuzzy math, but here's one attempt at giving you an average power usage number.

Doing normal things (surfing the web with iChat and iTunes), I get about 3 hours of battery life. Apple claims the battery is a 55 watt-hour battery. According to Wikipedia, one watt-hour is equivalent to 3,600 joules. A watt is defined, according to Wikipedia, as 1 joule/second.

Thus, 55 watt-hours is 198000 joules, 3 hours is 10800 seconds, and the power consumption averages 198000/10800 watts = 18.33 watts.

I could be completely wrong on this, but I think it's about as good an answer as you'll get, unless someone has a Kill-a-watt power meter.

I have a 2.0ghz Macbook by the way

 

[deadpixels]

from here
power consumption of mbpro cd, the c2d is probably not far away.



Current consumption
The current consumption without load shows a very good value compared with other notebooks tested up to now. Also under load the consumption remains still below average.

Minimum (everything from and/or to minimum): 19 watts
Idle (normal brightness): 23 watts
Maximally (full load inclusive Bluetooth & WLAN): 53 watts

 

[Phatpat]

Thanks deadpixels, very helpful. I've never been to that site before; I like their review style.

 

[frenchonskype]

Is this consumption for a day? Thanks!

 

[ApolloBoy]

Is this consumption for a day? Thanks!

Wow, talk about a necro bump. You also know that this is for the original white MacBook and not the new one, right?

 

[yorhekin]

Has anyone compared the power consumptions after build installers and before and after security updates yet? Could it be that the power consumption has increased from OS to OS and from Security Update to Security Update?

A detailed analysis and research on this concern would be welcome.

PS: Running on OS X Sierra. Last OS X Sierra build installer with the latest Sierra Security Update but without Safari 12.0 Update.