If you’re an Xbox owner in the UK or Europe, it might be time to take a look at what power mode your console is using. Rising energy costs in the UK and Europe mean the consoles’ Instant On Standby mode could cost many households up to £5 a month next month as the energy cap on prices rises by as much as 80 per cent in the UK alone.
Microsoft offers two power modes on its Xbox consoles. Instant On keeps Xbox One S and Xbox Series S/X consoles in a standby mode that consumes between 11-13 watts (depending on model) and lets players resume games immediately. The Energy Saver mode, on the other hand, only consumes about 0.5 watts, but means you’ll need to fully power up the Xbox before you can resume the game.
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While Microsoft has made Energy Saver mode the default on Xbox consoles shipped since March, millions of Xbox One S and Xbox Series X/S consoles will use the more convenient Instant On mode. In the long run, this can cost quite a bit. Keeping an Xbox Series X in Instant On standby mode 24 hours a day equates to around £4.93 in monthly energy consumption, calculated on the upcoming UK price caps (52p per kWh). thanks go to Alex Hern for highlighting the potential cost of the Xbox’s Instant On mode on Twitter.
Even older Xbox One S consoles use about 11 watts in Instant On mode, so that’s £4.18 per month, and an Xbox Series S works out to £3.80 per month based on 10 watts of Instant On use. . Enabling power saver mode on an Xbox console reduces usage to less than 20p per month. Of course, using Xbox consoles for streaming movies or playing games varying rates of energy consumptionat.
While Energy Saver Mode means you have to cold boot your Xbox every time you turn it on, Microsoft has recently accelerated the boot time of its consoles. The boot process is now 5 seconds faster on the Xbox Series X, and even older Xbox One models boot faster with Microsoft’s changes. It means you have to wait about 15 seconds from pressing the power button on an Xbox Series X/S console to play a game, but those seconds can almost save you on what a Netflix subscription per month. month costs.
If you’re a PS4 owner, it might be worth looking into whichever standby mode you’re using. The PlayStation 4 has several types of standby, rest, and off modes, and some include the ability to charge controllers or download software updates. The default “off” standby mode consumes only 0.5 watt, but other modes can use up to 3.4 watts. The PS5’s default power saving mode uses 0.5 watts, but with networking enabled in rest mode, it can consume up to 2 watts. So that’s far less of a savings than switching modes for the Xbox, but may be worth it given the unpredictability of energy prices over the coming months.
There’s less to worry about if you’re a Nintendo Switch owner. During active gameplay, the Switch uses only 7 watts in TV mode, which is much less than the Xbox’s Instant On Standby mode. When switched off, the Switch consumes a maximum of 0.5 watts. And if you’re a PC gamer… well, it’s time to pray that energy prices in Europe fall soon.