HDD + SSD: Effect on Battery Life/Power Consumption?

[abc617]

So I know its possible for some computers to take out the optical CD/DVD drive and replace it with a SSD drive. I was wondering what effects it has on a laptop's battery life.

I know that when active, an optical drive would use more power than both an SSD and a HDD. Not sure about how often they go idle. But I've read many mixed articles about how much power a SSD actually consumes (some say it consumes more than a regular HDD, some less than a HDD).

So in a laptop, SSD + HDD: positive or negative impact on power consumption?



And a secondary side question: what about hybrid HDD/SSD drives? Better or worse than SSD + HDD?

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Power consumption on SSD is minimal.....like 1 watt


Hybrid drives rock ....

http/benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=806&Itemid=60&limit=1&limitstart=7

Windows boot in 17 seconds, SSD is 16 seconds

http/benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=806&Itemid=60&limit=1&limitstart=9

 

[raytseng]

the Display and video card (if you have discrete video) is the bulk of the power loss...

 

[dudewitbow]

Hybrid drives are still working their way up there. the latest 750gb model from seagate are doing fine if you like to see synthetic benchmarks. its still a section in the storage world that is in the works, as only a few companies have picked up the concept, and seagate is the one who has the drives readily available to the market.

 

[abc617]

Actually I read at it's either the CPU or the screen brightness that consume more of a laptops battery power. But I am really interested in learning is if adding 2 storage drives consumes more power than having a regular HDD and an optical disk drive.

But if a SSD really only consumes 1 watt, then depending on whether the disk drive is active then it might consume less power than a HDD+disk drive right?

 

[overclockingrocks]

To weigh in on this seeing as I have this exact setup in my laptop. I have noticed no appreciable loss of runtime when having the optical drive and my SSD installed vs swapping the optical drive for an HDD and having the HDD+SSD combo that you are inquiring about. honestly I barely use an optical drive as it is so having mine in an external caddy and plugging it in when needed was a small inconvienience for the combined speed of an SSD along with the traditional storage capacity of an HDD in one machine.