Xbox power saving modes can save you up to £5 a month in the UK

If you’re an Xbox owner in the UK or Europe, it might be time to consider what power mode your console is using. Rising energy costs across the UK and Europe mean immediate standby for consoles could cost as much as £5 a month for many households, with energy caps jumping on prices by 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 standby, drawing between 11-13 watts (depending on model) and allowing gamers to resume games instantly. By comparison, power saving mode only consumes about 0.5 watts, but it means you have to turn your Xbox on completely before you can resume playing.

While Microsoft made power saving 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 Play mode. Over time, this can cost quite a bit. If you keep your Xbox Series X on instant standby 24 hours a day, it adds up to about £4.93 in monthly energy use calculated at upcoming UK prices (52p per kWh). thanks for the Alex Hearn To highlight the potential costs of Xbox Instant mode on Twitter.

Even the older Xbox One S draws around 11 watts in Instant On, which is £4.18 per month, and the Xbox Series S runs at £3.80 per month based on 10 watts of use in Instant On. Enabling power saving mode on any Xbox console will reduce usage to less than 20p per month. And of course, using Xbox consoles to stream movies or play games Varying rates of energy usevery.

While Energy Saver mode means you turn on your Xbox every time you turn it on, Microsoft recently speeded up the boot time for its consoles. Boot process now 5 seconds faster on Xbox Series X.And even older Xbox One models run faster with Microsoft’s changes. This means you’ll have to wait about 15 seconds from pressing the power button on your Xbox Series X/S console to play a game, but those seconds could save you nearly the cost of a monthly Netflix subscription.

If you’re a PS4 owner, it might be worth researching which standby mode you’re in as well. The PlayStation 4 has different types of standby, rest, and shutdown modes, some of which include the ability to charge consoles or download software updates. default standby mode “off” Uses only 0.5 watts, but other modes can use up to 3.4 watts. The PS5’s default power saving mode uses 0.5 watts, but with network enabled in rest mode, up to 2 watts can be used. So, that’s a lot less saving than switching modes for the Xbox, but it might still be worth it given the unpredictability of power prices in the coming months.

There is nothing to worry about if you are a Nintendo Switch owner. During active play The switch only uses 7 watts In TV mode, which is much lower than Xbox Instant Standby. When off, the switch uses a maximum of 0.5 watts. And if you’re a fan of computer games… well, it’s time to start praying for lower energy prices in Europe sometime soon.