How Many Watts Does a Laptop Use?

Chris Campbell07 Apr 2022

Laptops have become such an important part of our life that we use them regularly. If you want to take your laptop on lengthy trips or to areas where you won't be able to easily plug it in an outlet, a long-lasting battery is vital. To estimate how long your laptop's battery will last, you must first determine how many watts your laptop uses.

How Many Watts To Charge a Laptop?

Laptops and other mobile devices use less energy than desktop computers with an external display. It is expected that a laptop's battery is completely charged once per day, and the amount of watts required to charge a laptop ranges from 20 to 250W. For this reason, the normal charging efficiency of 70% is assumed, with 30% of the energy exchanged between the charger and the battery as waste heat and radiation into the environment.

The HP 15 model from Hewlett Packard is an example of a typical home laptop. This device's battery requires 41W to charge. This figure is, of course, subject to change. Not every power source dissipates the same amount of energy, and the exact wattage will fluctuate with time. However, due to the modest variance, it is more or less insignificant.

Also, keep in mind that how much wattage a laptop uses is dependent on the purpose and usage of the laptop. A bigger laptop is intended for more computationally demanding work and uses more energy in idle mode than a smaller notebook or even a tablet. As a result, a bigger laptop will use more watts than a smaller one.

How Many Watts Does a Gaming Laptop Use?

Gaming laptops are a wonderful invention, aren't they? Having a laptop that can run practically all of the games that your desktop can and yet be able to carry it around is a technological and engineering marvel in and of itself. Because gaming laptop performance is approaching that of current gaming desktops, the power consumption of a gaming laptop is an essential consideration.

Gaming laptops consume more power than standard laptops. It is impossible to predict how much energy it will consume, however, it may often consume between 155 and 185 watts of power. The most sophisticated gaming laptops currently available may even outperform this figure.

So if you use the laptop for one hour every day, for instance, the typical power usage of a gaming laptop is 170 watts/hour. However, if the laptop is used for eight hours every day, the average power usage of a gaming laptop is 1360watts/8h.

Can I Use a Higher Watt Charger for My Laptop?

If your laptop's original charger is broken or you simply cannot find it, you should try using an alternative charger. If you have a lot of chargers lying around, you might be wondering if you could use a laptop charger that has higher wattage than your laptop.

If your laptop charger has higher power than your laptop, you should be fine as long as many other requirements are fulfilled. For instance, the plug must be compatible with the laptop, and the amperage must be equal to or more than the amperage of the laptop.

Is Wattage Important in a Laptop Charger?

Wattage is a crucial consideration. The watts is the amount of power that a device consumes and requires, thus your charger should give the same or more power. These numbers can also be found on your power brick and the bottom of your laptop. Check to see if they match or whether the one on the charger is higher than that on the laptop.

Most laptops require between 45 and 10 watts of energy, so if the charger produces less, avoid using it. If your charger isn't showing the watts, but as long as the amps and voltage match, you shouldn't have any issues. Still, if you smell smoke or overheating, unplug the laptop's charger immediately.

Can I Charge a 45-Watt Laptop with a 90-Watt Charger?

It's possible to use a 90-Watt charger on a 45-Watt laptop. Wattage is the amount of electricity that a device can use. In this example, because your laptop has a wattage of 45 watts, it will demand that much power from the charger.  Your charger can handle it, and it will not overheat throughout the charging process. In reality, you'll have a seamless encounter with this. 

Of course, you must also consider the amperage. The amperage should also be the same. If it's not identical, it should be higher. Wattage is a parameter that tells you how much power a device might draw, whereas amperage is the amount of energy that enters the device at once.  Naturally, ensure that the plugs match as well.

However, if you have a laptop charger with 45 Watts and a laptop with 90 Watts, you cannot use them together. The issue here is that your charger will not have enough power to offer to your laptop and will have to work much harder than necessary to provide it and meet the demands of your laptop. All of that heat would produce a variety of problems, including a fire hazard, charger overheating, etc.

There's going to be a problem if the charger's amperage is a mismatch or is lower than your laptop's amperage. Your laptop would demand an amount of power that your charger just could not give. When connecting chargers and laptops, stick to higher or equal.

How much watts your laptop consumes is a calculation of how much energy it requires. The more wattage your laptop consumes, the faster its battery drains. There is no simple answer to the question of how many watts a laptop consumes. While most laptops require between 20 and 100 watts per hour, certain laptops require up to 180 watts per hour. These differences usually reflect what the laptop is used for. Different requirements demand different hardware and usage. If you are a dedicated gamer or often use apps that require high-quality graphics, your laptop will no doubt use more watts.

Chris Campbell

Chris Campbell

Thanks for reading! I'm Chris, an avid tech fanatic that enjoys keeping up with the latest laptop models. Hopefully my tips & tricks can help you out!

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