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Next-Generation Videogame Systems Getting Power Hungry |
5 Comments |
| By Michael d'Estries in Green Living | October 30, 2006 | ||
I own an Xbox 360. It’s fun — when I have a moment to play it — but the noise coming out of this thing is pretty noticeable if there’s no sound emanating from your television. That’s because the chips inside this box need some fan assistance to cool off — something I’m used to with a computer but not a video game system.
Thing is, as these little boxes approach more and more the status of powerful computers, their energy consumption picks up pretty substantially. Take, for instance, the new PlayStation 3. This thing consumed 380 watts of power when running — a far cry from the 160 watts my 360 uses. According to Gizmodo, the PS3 will cost you about $40 a year if played for about two hours everyday. Meanwhile, the Nintendo Wii is championed by its designers as something that “with a smaller chip and minimised power consumption, Wii can be left on 24 hours a day.” UGH. Nintendo’s Wiiconnect24 service requires the Wii to be left running 24 hours a day; which probably nulls any power savings compared to the other systems.
Um, I’ll take my 360, play the middle-of-the-road in consumption, and simply unplug it from the wall when I’m done. No sense wasting money while I’m outside getting interacting with reality.
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Preston said,
Nice post. Another argument for the X360. I read another article today on it saying the manufacturing costs of the xbox has gone down bigtime, so MSFT is less in the red, but they won’t be lowering the price anytime soon. They’ve got a huge leg up on the PS3 (but all this is not really green related, as your post is).
Mike D said,
We’ll see about the Wii I dunno if I could ever feel right leaving an electronic device on 24 hours a day.. I was really excited about the Wii though. I definitely will not be buying the PS3 for several reasons not the least of which the power requirements. among others are the choice of an unproven disc, the ever present proprietary nature of Sony and the fact that Sony has accused everyone of copying them on several things on countless occasions
michael said,
Yea, supposedly the price drop will come in 2007. They’re looking to take advantage of the PS3 shortages this holiday season and make as much $$ as possible. I’m happy though: I got my 360 off Ebay for $330, a savings of $70 plus tax.
I’m still on the fence about the Wii…I reserving judgment until I get the chance to play with it. The 24-hour always on thing is bothersome, but I’m sure there’s a way to get around that….
Tobias said,
Well you won’t actually HAVE to leave the Wii on for 24 hours a day. There is actually an option to turn it off…
Richard Smith said,
With the amount of heat the xbox 360 generates it almost doubles up as a heater