Budget and prices
What a laptop costs per year once you include everything
Purchase price divided by the years you keep it, plus electricity from the rated draw, plus sales tax. An example $900 laptop works out near $196 a year.
A laptop is compared on its ticket price and paid for over several years, and the two numbers can rank machines differently. A $600 machine replaced after 3 years costs more per year than a $900 machine kept for 5, and no product page makes that comparison for you.
This guide does the three divisions that produce an honest annual figure: price over keeping period, electricity from the rated draw, and the tax and shipping that never appear on a listing. Every price is a labelled example rather than a quote.
Price over keeping period is most of the answer
The division is simple and the result is frequently surprising. An example $900 laptop kept 5 years is $180 a year. The same machine replaced after 3 years is $300 a year. An example $600 machine kept 3 years is $200 a year, which is more than the more expensive machine that lasted longer.
That is the entire argument for spending more on a machine that can reach the end of its operating system's support window. Windows 10 Home and Pro ran from 2015-07-29 to end of support on 2025-10-14, a little over 10 years, so the limit on a machine's life is usually eligibility rather than speed.
Resale changes the figure too. An example $900 laptop sold for $200 after 5 years has cost $700 over that period, which is $140 a year rather than $180. Machines with replaceable batteries and socketed memory hold resale value better, which is a second reason serviceability belongs in the purchase decision.
| Example price | Kept 3 years | Kept 5 years | Kept 7 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| $600 | $200 | $120 | $86 |
| $900 | $300 | $180 | $129 |
| $1,800 | $600 | $360 | $257 |
Each cell is price divided by years, rounded to the dollar, with no resale subtracted. The cost-per-year calculator on this site takes a resale figure as well.
Electricity, computed rather than assumed
A laptop is a small electricity bill and a desktop is a larger one, and both are easy to compute. A notebook averaging 30 W for 8 hours a day uses 0.24 kWh a day, about 88 kWh a year. At 18 cents per kilowatthour, rounded from the 18.16 cents residential average the EIA published for August 2026, that is about $16 a year.
A desktop with a monitor averaging 120 W over the same 8 hours a day uses 0.96 kWh a day, about 350 kWh a year, or roughly $63. That $47 annual gap is one of the few places where the laptop and desktop comparison has a number attached to it rather than a preference.
Use your own rate rather than the national average, because residential prices differ substantially between states and between plans. The EIA also published 14.87 cents per kilowatthour across all sectors for the same month, which shows how far a single average can sit from any particular bill.
| Machine | Average draw | Hours a day | kWh per year | Cost per year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Notebook | 30 W | 8 hours | 88 kWh | about $16 |
| Notebook | 30 W | 12 hours | 131 kWh | about $24 |
| Desktop and monitor | 120 W | 8 hours | 350 kWh | about $63 |
| Desktop and monitor | 120 W | 12 hours | 526 kWh | about $95 |
Average draw is not the power supply rating. A plug-in meter left on the desk for a week gives your own figure, which is what the running-energy calculator is designed to take.
Certification, sleep settings and the $15 that is free
ENERGY STAR certified computers use about 30 to 40 percent less energy than standard models, through efficient components, better idle energy management and efficient power supplies, and the certification covers desktops, integrated desktops, notebooks, slate and tablet devices, portable all-in-ones, thin clients and workstations.
The specification requires the display to go to sleep within 15 minutes of user inactivity and the system to go to sleep within 30 minutes. ENERGY STAR puts the value of enabling those power management features on a certified desktop at $15 per year, which against the $63 desktop figure above is roughly 24 percent of the bill.
On a notebook the same settings are worth less in absolute terms, because the whole electricity line is about $16 a year. The settings are still worth making, and the honest ranking is that for a laptop the purchase price is roughly 11 times the electricity, so the keeping period deserves 11 times the attention.
- Set the display to sleep after 15 minutes and the system after 30 minutes
- Measure the machine with a plug-in meter for 7 days rather than trusting a rated figure
- Divide the weekly reading by 7 and multiply by 365 for an annual kWh figure
- Multiply by the rate printed on your own bill instead of 18 cents
- Put the result next to the price-divided-by-years figure and see which one is larger
Tax, shipping and the delivered price
Sales tax in the United States is set by state and locality rather than nationally, so the figure on the listing is not the figure that leaves your account. At an example combined rate of 8 percent, the $900 laptop arrives at $972, which over 5 years is about $194 a year rather than $180.
Accessories belong in the same division. A hub at an example $45, a sleeve at $30 and a replacement charger at $60 add $135 to the purchase, which over 5 years is $27 a year, more than one and a half times the laptop's entire electricity bill. Count them at purchase rather than discovering them in month two.
Imported machines add duty and carrier handling fees assessed on arrival, which is what the landed-cost calculator on this site exists to capture. Put the delivered total into the division, and the annual figure stops being optimistic.
| Line | Amount | Spread over 5 years |
|---|---|---|
| Laptop at an example price | $900 | $180 a year |
| Example 8 percent sales tax | $72 | $14 a year |
| Hub, sleeve and spare charger | $135 | $27 a year |
| Electricity at 30 W for 8 hours a day | - | about $16 a year |
| Total | $1,107 of purchases | about $237 a year |
The total row adds the three purchase lines and the electricity line. Eight percent is an illustration rather than a rate quoted for any location.
The hourly figure, and what it settles
Eight hours a day is 2,920 hours a year. The bare machine-and-electricity figure of about $196 a year works out at about 7 cents an hour; the fully loaded $237 figure is about 8 cents an hour.
That number is what settles arguments about accessories and upgrades. A $45 hub over 5 years is under half a cent an hour. Replacing the machine 2 years early costs $120 a year on the example figures, which is roughly 4 cents an hour and by far the largest single decision in this guide.
Recompute once a year rather than at the moment of purchase. The two figures that move are the keeping period and the hours used, and neither is known on the day the box arrives.
Before you buy
- Write down the price you will actually pay, including your own sales tax and any shipping
- Decide a keeping period in years and check it against the operating system end of support date
- Divide the delivered price by that number of years
- List the accessories you will buy and divide those by the same number of years
- Measure the machine with a plug-in meter for 7 days to get your own average draw
- Multiply by the rate on your own bill rather than by 18 cents
- Subtract a realistic resale figure before comparing two machines
Questions readers ask
- Is a cheap laptop ever more expensive than an expensive one?
- On the example figures, yes. A $600 machine kept 3 years is $200 a year, while a $900 machine kept 5 years is $180 a year. The cheaper purchase costs more annually because the denominator is smaller, which is why serviceability and operating system eligibility belong in the decision.
- How much electricity does a laptop really use?
- About 88 kWh a year at an average draw of 30 W for 8 hours a day, which at 18 cents per kilowatthour is roughly $16. A desktop with a monitor at 120 W over the same hours is about 350 kWh and roughly $63. Both figures are computed from average draw rather than from the power supply rating.
- Do the ENERGY STAR sleep settings make a real difference?
- On a desktop they are worth about $15 per year according to ENERGY STAR, which is roughly 24 percent of the $63 electricity figure in this guide. On a notebook the whole electricity line is about $16, so the absolute saving is smaller. The settings cost nothing either way: display asleep after 15 minutes, system after 30.
- Why include sales tax when every listing excludes it?
- Because it is money that left your account. At an example 8 percent rate the $900 laptop becomes $972, which adds $14 a year over 5 years. Sales tax is set by state and locality rather than nationally, so the delivered total is the only figure two listings can honestly be compared on.
- Should resale value go into the calculation?
- Yes, as a subtraction. An example $900 laptop sold for $200 after 5 years has cost $700, or $140 a year rather than $180. Machines with replaceable batteries and socketed memory tend to hold value better, which is the same property that lets them reach the end of the support window.
Sources
- U.S. Energy Information Administration — Electric Power Monthly, average price of electricity to ultimate customers by end-use sector — checked 2026-11-03
- ENERGY STAR — Computers: the 30 to 40 percent efficiency range, required sleep intervals, covered product types and the annual saving from power management — checked 2026-11-03
- Microsoft Lifecycle — Windows 10 Home and Pro: start date and end of support date, bounding the keeping period — checked 2026-11-03
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