which one is greener ? laptop versus desktop

[zareenaiyoob]

we are doing a project with the title
which one is greener ? laptop versus desktop

My child is a 3rd grader , with this project, she has learned all the parts of a computer and she was amazed to do the project.
The hypothesis is , ''' Considering the portability, a laptop is greener than a desktop.''
Is the hypothesis fair?
We are testing the desktop and laptop under same conditions like, playing a dvd, video game, putting into sleep , shut down etc.to measure the watts.

Please help

[deleted-249560]

That's a fun project. Did you have any ideas on how you'd be measuring the power consumption?

Manufacturers often measure the power used by individual parts but that might be too much for your project. You can measure power used at the plug with a meter like the "Kill A Watt". You can find them made be a few companies - a popular one is this: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000RGF29Q

That might tell you how much power is used by a desktop. A laptop will be harder to measure. The charger will be running the laptop as well as charging the battery so you can't just use the measurement as the amount of power used by the laptop. You'll have to come up with some other method - like run the laptop down, plug in and start measuring, then unplug and continue using the laptop on battery. Think of it as trying to measure mileage in your car by filling the tank.

Have fun with the project - it should be a hoot!

Howard

[zareenaiyoob]

Hi Howard

Thank you so much for the reply.
Actually , we finished the project by charging the laptop and connecting it to a kill a watt meter the same way we did it for the desktop. The peak power and steady steady power came low for laptop than the desktop. Actually we took this idea from Science Buddies,
''Profile the power usage of a computer system using a desktop computer, and the power usage of a computer system using a laptop. What kind of energy savings do you get by switching to a laptop?''

Now , can we proceed with the results the way we did by charging the laptop and finding the measurement?

Please help.
Thank you.

[deleted-249560]

Start with the laptop pretty much dead, shut it off and charge the battery until it's full - keeping track of the kWH used to charge the battery. Unplug the charger and see how long the laptop lasts. You know the kWH that went into charging, so dividing that by the hours it runs will tell you the average kW that the laptop uses when it runs. It won't be easy to get fine detail for different operations like you can with the desktop. I guess you could just play DVDs until it dies, then play games until it dies, etc.

Howard

[zareenaiyoob]

Thank you.

Our laptop, the internal battery is already dead, I am using an ac adapter, so I guess I can't try your idea.

'' Dell says a laptop does not draw from the battery power at all when connected to an outlet via an AC adapter'', i got this from one of the post.

Can i say for this project, when the laptop is connected into an ac adapter, will it be a fair project?

Plaese help
Thank you.

[deleted-249560]

In your case then, just go ahead and test it the same way you tested the desktop. I didn't want to suggest anything like removing the battery since on many laptops, running without the battery will damage either the laptop or the charger. If you just leave the dead battery in place and measure the charger power you'll get an estimate of the power usage. You actually lose a bunch *trying* to charge the dead battery but you have to use what you have.

Howard

[zareenaiyoob]

Thank you so much for prompt replies.
We really appreciate it.

[deleted-331517]

I would guess a laptop:) They even come in green!