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What uses less battery, Hard Drive or DVD drive?

EglsFly

Senior member
I will be traveling and would like to know what would use LESS battery power on my laptop for viewing movies?
Playing them from the Hard Drive or the DVD drive?

Thanks.
 
Hard drive for sure. However, the difference is neglidgible; dropping your screen brightness and disabling wi-fi will have a greater effect on battery life.
 
DVD drive uses power to spin up the disc and activate the laser. For reference: dv1000 12-cell normally gets 7+ hours, we'll call it 6 watching vids on the HDD. Watching vids off a DVDR, Windows estimated 5.5hours; so probly less than that. You can see the difference right there.
 
the os and player is running from hd -- then you're adding the load of running the optical drive.

its kinda simple math isn't it? 🙂

dragonponyboy
 
Originally posted by: dragonponyboy
the os and player is running from hd -- then you're adding the load of running the optical drive.

its kinda simple math isn't it? 🙂

dragonponyboy
No, the OS and player are in system memory.
 
Every time I have flown of late, I have been able to plug my laptop in to the plane's power plug. Get yourself one of those Targus adapters - well worth it. If driving, it connects to aux power tap, a.k.a. cigarette lighter plug. The only time I have had to use battery power was once at airport security - to prove the computer would turn on.
 
Originally posted by: manly
Originally posted by: dragonponyboy
the os and player is running from hd -- then you're adding the load of running the optical drive.

its kinda simple math isn't it? 🙂

dragonponyboy
No, the OS and player are in system memory.


but things have to be loaded into the memory from the harddrive.
 
it loads it in chunks...instead of reading from the dvd drive nonstop...which takes more power than just hd to memory....

bottom line hd more energy efficient than the optical drive option...

depending on airlines...only business class and above get outlets
 
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