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iMac Power Consumption

W

webcakes

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 5, 2009
12
0
Hi,

I'm considering to buy a new iMac (21,5"/nvidia or ati) and I'm wondering if someone has already measured the actual power consumption. In it's environmental paper, Apple documents that it uses less than 2W in sleep mode and 37,5 W with the display off. Did anyone try if this is also measured in real life?

I may sound a bit paranoid, but half a year ago I bought a mac mini 2007 at a stock clearance, and I was shocked to find out that just the powerblock plugged in already consumes 8W, the mini itself in standby consumes 11W. Add to that a screen, external speakers and an external disk and the total standby power consumption of the lot is 25W. Terrible.

Besides the energy consumption, I'm also a bit disappointed with the speed of the mini, but that's probably largely due to the low RAM (1GB). So rather than going for the latest mini model, I'd like to go for the power of an iMac. But I would be really happy if someone could confirm the power consumption. Specifically I'm looking for power consumption
- in sleep mode
- while streaming itunes to an airport express, with the display off
( I assume the display goes to sleep automatically when streaming. Right?)
- while in normal, not too heavy operation (eg surfing, mailing & itunes)


Thanks for measuring !

webcakes
 
Ok i measured mine.

IMac 21.5 CD3.33Ghz ATI4670

Sleep 2-3 Watts
Surfing web 90-93 Watts

Didn't measure screen off and totally powered down.
 
Dylotic said:
Ok i measured mine.

IMac 21.5 CD3.33Ghz ATI4670

Sleep 2-3 Watts
Surfing web 90-93 Watts

Didn't measure screen off and totally powered down.
Click to expand...

Thanks ! This is reassuring. Now I'm still wondering about the behavior when streaming. I use the Remote app on my iPod touch for this. I assume the screen will light up when you wake the iMac from sleep with Remote, but then switch off after a while (according to energy saver settings).

Could anyone confirm this? Also a power measurement of this 'streaming-with-display-off' state would be nice.


Thanks !

webcakes
 
miniroll32 said:
This is a really dumb question, but in the household, what is the equivalent of this 2/3 watts while the iMac sleeps? :)
Click to expand...

It is so little it is not even worth the worry. Our government has so many worried while Al Gore jets around is a plane that uses more fuel in a few minutes than a car would use in a WHOLE YEAR!:eek:
 
Stealthipad said:
It is so little it is not even worth the worry. Our government has so many worried while Al Gore jets around is a plane that uses more fuel in a few minutes than a car would use in a WHOLE YEAR!:eek:
Click to expand...
2-3 Watt may not seem a lot. But it is if this is running all year round. Here in Belgium, 1W Standby will cost 2 Euro per year. If you add this up for all the electronic devices in a household, you easily have 100 or 200W or even more standby power. That's 400Euro ! Would buy me some nice Mac goodies.... In a normal household easily 20% of electricity consumption is from standby power. I think this is really disgusting.Producers of electronic consumer goods are doing too little to limit this standby power consumption. And governments are not making the correct legislation to enforce this.

So when I buy a device, I really try to find out about standby consumption. Hell, it should be on the box, in large letters ! So compared to the 15-20W that a Router or a set-top box consumes, the 2-3 Watt for an iMac seems acceptable. (I did by an iMac, fantastic machine !). But I was disappointed to find out that my iMac is using 8 Watt in standby.
 
webcakes said:
2-3 Watt may not seem a lot. But it is if this is running all year round. Here in Belgium, 1W Standby will cost 2 Euro per year. If you add this up for all the electronic devices in a household, you easily have 100 or 200W or even more standby power. That's 400Euro ! Would buy me some nice Mac goodies.... In a normal household easily 20% of electricity consumption is from standby power. I think this is really disgusting.Producers of electronic consumer goods are doing too little to limit this standby power consumption. And governments are not making the correct legislation to enforce this.

So when I buy a device, I really try to find out about standby consumption. Hell, it should be on the box, in large letters ! So compared to the 15-20W that a Router or a set-top box consumes, the 2-3 Watt for an iMac seems acceptable. (I did by an iMac, fantastic machine !). But I was disappointed to find out that my iMac is using 8 Watt in standby.
Click to expand...

At prices they charge where you live, what kind of "Mac Goddies" can you buy for that savings!?
 
webcakes said:
But I was disappointed to find out that my iMac is using 8 Watt in standby.
Click to expand...

Do you need to wake up your computer from sleep remotely? If not, make sure wake-on-lan is disabled (System Preferences-->Energy Saver-->uncheck "Wake for Ethernet Access"). That should save a few watts when sleeping.
 
Power Saving

Other areas that can be shut off if not being used that will help reduce power consumption are Blue Tooth and Airport. I also see a measurable temperature difference in my MacBook when I turn these off, especially Airport.

___

iMac 21", (2) MacBook 13", (2) G4, (3) iPhone
 
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