What size power station for a laptop and monitor?
Advertising disclosure: This page contains no affiliate links.
The short answer: a work-from-home set-up uses little power. The Centre for Sustainable Energy lists a laptop at 50 W and a broadband router at 10 W (CSE), and one 24-inch monitor's energy-label sheet gives 17.4 W in use (EPREL). That's about 77 W together, or roughly 620 Wh over an 8-hour day (our arithmetic). Output is rarely the limit; capacity is.
Based on published figures. Ferncharge has not tested these products. Estimates only.
Start the sizing calculator with a laptop (pre-filled with 50 W for 8 hours), then add your monitor and router.
Step 1: find each device's watts
- Laptop: the watts on its charger are the most it can draw, not what it uses all the time. CSE's 50 W is a typical figure (CSE).
- Monitor: the energy label's product information sheet gives on mode power demand. For the 24-inch Philips 241E1SCA it's 17.4 W (EPREL). Bigger or brighter screens can use more: check yours.
- Router: CSE lists 10 W. If you need broadband, the router has to stay on too. See our router guide.
- Desktop computer: CSE lists 140 W, nearly three times a laptop.
Step 2: add up a working day
Example hours. Change them to match your day.
| Device | Watts | Hours | Energy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Laptop | 50 W | 8 | 400 Wh |
| Monitor (24-inch example) | 17.4 W | 8 | about 139 Wh |
| Broadband router | 10 W | 8 | 80 Wh |
| Total | about 77 W | about 619 Wh |
From a power station's mains sockets, allow for our assumed 10% inverter loss and roughly 90% usable capacity on a LiFePO4 battery (methodology): divide by about 0.81. That's about 765 Wh of rated capacity for one working day, before any margin (our arithmetic). The sizing calculator adds a margin and shows the working.
Half a day, or a laptop on its own, needs much less: a 50 W laptop for 4 hours is 200 Wh, or about 250 Wh of rated capacity on the same assumptions.
Charge the laptop by USB-C if you can
Many laptops charge from USB-C. Running them from a power station's USB-C port skips the inverter, which our methodology treats as a smaller loss than the mains sockets (a planning estimate, not a published figure). Check that the port's stated watts cover your laptop's charger, and the power station's spec sheet for each port's rating.
Don't forget the power station itself
A power station uses a little power while it's on. BLUETTI puts one model's self-consumption at about 10 W, which is noticeable next to a 77 W load. Some models also switch off an output when the load is small. See why your power station runs out faster than expected.
FAQs
How long will a power station run a laptop?
Divide the available energy by the laptop's watts. On our assumptions a 1,000 Wh power station has about 810 Wh at its mains sockets: about 16 hours for a 50 W laptop on its own.
How much power does a monitor use?
Check its energy label's information sheet for on mode power demand. One 24-inch monitor's sheet gives 17.4 W.
Can I work from home on a power station in a power cut?
For a laptop, monitor and router, often yes, for a working day or part of one, depending on capacity. A desktop computer uses much more. Keep the router powered if you need broadband.
Related: Router and Wi-Fi · Power cuts · What size do I need? · Spec table