2003 vs 2020 monitor power usage

Device Detection
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#1

My company recently offered employees some money for work from home equipment purchases, specifically monitors, desks, chairs, that kind of stuff. I purchased a 32” Asus monitor with a partial goal of reducing my energy usage. I had been using a circa 2003 Apple Cinema Display with a resolution of 1920x1200. When off, it still used 5w, so I set the plug on my HS300 to turn off at 6pm and on at 8:30am. The new Asus monitor with a resolution of 2560x1440 uses half the power. Even at full brightness, which is super bright, it still uses a little more than half my Cinema Display at its brightness setting. Here are a couple screenshots. The ramping up on the Asus is me going from 0 to 100 brightness to see power usage escalation. My Cinema Display cost me $6 for the year, so it’ll be interesting to see how much this uses. How much energy does your monitor(s) use?

Cinema Display

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Asus ET322QU

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#2

Hmmm, interesting. So let’s say the Asus saves you half that, or a whopping $3/year, Given the $200 cost of such monitors, that’s a ROI of just under 67 years. So much for “savings”, but the Asus I (I have one) has a beautiful picture so enjoy that factor anyway.

So many individual items (my count in the house is 167 and I’m sure I’ve missed some) draw very little power individually but the total becomes significant. That’s why we concentrated on things like concerting all the lights, saving 87% of their draw each…for more than thirty of them.

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#3

If the monitor consumes 6W and the smart plug only 2W … does that mean the smart plug consumes 25% of your total usage? :slight_smile:

#4

I just got rid of a Sony 42” rear projection TV. I bought it for my wife about 15 years ago.
It was supposed to use 17W in standby and 210W when on.
The replacement 42” 4K TV only uses 50W when on and 0-7W in Standby.

#5

27" ASUS Monitor here, comparable to what you’re seeing for your monitor (it seems mine stays level at around 18W, versus yours increasing in a step-like pattern).

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#6

And, with a much better picture too, I’d bet. So, two good reasons to upgrade. Does Sense see either the Sony or it’s replacement? It hasn’t found either of our large screen TV’s.

#7

I’m running mine (x2) off a UPS … and Sense has not found them either.

#8

I’ll add that my monitor is on a smart plug. A general rule has been shared elsewhere here, but devices that operate at or under 40W are really hard for Sense to find. Any crucial equipment I have that runs under that 40W is on a smart plug. My entire office area is on a KASA HS-300 (speakers, two monitors, PC and Macbook charger, plus a small guitar amplifier.)

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#9

From what I’ve read (and experienced), a UPS…or any device that behaves like one, like garage door openers with built in backup…is impossible for Sense to detect. That’s because Sense is designed to recognize sharp transitions, and such devices do not behave that way.

I did enable the Sense feature that’s supposed to pick up TV control signals, but that hasn’t worked for any of my TV, apparently it only works for certain models.

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#10

My experience on my very large monitor (actually 4K OLED TV) is that power usage is highly variable depending on what a monitor is displaying, and how much decode and upscaling is needed for the input stream. The screen usage varies heavily based on content, and so does the decode/upscale hardware usage.

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#11

Just a FYI… Consumers Power in Michigan is getting about 12% raise in electric rates starting in January. …Go figure… Hi … Gerry