Gadget electricity costs: a high or low bill is your 'œCHOICE'

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Wednesday, 04 June 2008 11:20

Opinion and Analysis

While the battle over how much wear and tear your hard drive experiences when it is powered on or off will probably continue forever, CHOICE says that if you leave “the average desktop PC” powered up for long periods, the annual cost is $130. Turn that computer completely off when it’s not being used, and obviously that cost will go down, too!

Mac users will likely retain their famed smugness when they discover the startling news that Macs only use two-thirds the power of the average PC, while PC owners can be winners too if they ditch their old CRT monitors and replace them with LCD monitors that are twice as energy efficient.

CHOICE’s Zinn gives out the age-old advice mothers have given for years: “With power bills going up, the tip is to turn off electrical devices at the plug or at least use standby power” – although mothers normally end it at turning off the power right at the wall socket.

Finally, CHOICE says the Nintendo Wii uses one tenth the power of a PS3, while a laptop uses a fifth the power of a desktop PC.

So... want to lower your electricity bills and save some money? The “CHOICE” is in using your index finger to flick that on/off switch to off!