Since Jim Wilkins mentioned Kill-A-Watt meter here some time ago it came on
sale at Lee Valley and I got me one. I spent an interesting hour running
around the house finding out what consumes electricity while plugged in and
what does not. What surprised me were the computers.

My most recent purchase (Compaq Presario) does this:

Turned off 2.1W
Booting 60W
On but quiet 46W
Asleep 5.8W
Hibernating 1.7W

My old computer also draws about 3W while supposedly switched off.

So the questions a
1) Why is the computer drawing any power at all when turned off?
2) Why is the power drawn less when hibernating then when switched off?
3) What happens to a computer which is turned off and the plug is pulled?
4) What happens with laptops? Do they draw power from their battery
continuously even when turned off?

and...

Why has this stupid Windows Live Mail program suddenly decided to type É
instead of a question mark ÉÉÉ

--
Michael Koblic,
Campbell River, BC