How we work it out
There's no government energy-rating registry for computers the way there is for fridges, TVs or air conditioners, so the wattages here are typical published figures for each setup: roughly 30–70 W for a laptop doing everyday tasks, 120–300 W for a laptop under a gaming load, 60–150 W for a basic desktop tower plus monitor doing office work, and 300–800 W for a gaming desktop tower plus monitor under load, using a representative point within each range. Watts ÷ 1,000 gives kilowatts, times hours run, times your state's rate.
Worked example: a desktop and monitor doing everyday work (150 W) for 6 hours a day in NSW: 0.15 kW × 6 h = 0.9 kWh × 32.4¢ = about 29 cents a day, or roughly $106 a year if that pattern holds every day.
Why a gaming PC costs so much more
The gap between browsing the internet and gaming isn't small. A graphics card working hard can pull three to six times what the same machine draws sitting on email or a spreadsheet, because the chip doing the heavy lifting is built to trade power for frames, not efficiency. A gaming desktop and monitor run three hours an evening can cost more across a single week than a laptop doing everyday tasks costs across a whole month, the same reason a gaming PC's power supply is rated in the hundreds of watts while a laptop charger fits in a jacket pocket.
Laptop versus desktop for everyday tasks
If the job is email, browsers and video calls, a laptop is the cheaper machine to leave running. It's built to work off a battery, so every component is already tuned for low draw, while a desktop tower is built for the wall socket and doesn't try as hard to save power. Swapping a desktop office session onto a laptop instead can cut the running cost by more than half for the same hours, worth knowing if you actually own both and can pick, not a reason to buy a new machine.
Common questions
How much does it cost to run a gaming PC?
A gaming desktop and monitor under load typically costs 35 to 55 cents an hour on current state rates: roughly $1.50 for a three-hour session, or several hundred dollars a year for a daily habit. Everyday use on the same machine, browsing or on a video call, costs a fraction of that.
Does leaving a computer on standby cost much?
Modern computers in sleep mode draw only a few watts, close to nothing next to actually running. The real cost driver here is active hours, not standby, the opposite of a lot of older appliances.
Is a laptop cheaper to run than a desktop?
Yes, usually by a wide margin for the same task. A laptop is designed to sip power off a battery; a desktop tower and monitor doing the same everyday work typically draws two to three times as much.
What this costs, state by state
A desktop and monitor doing everyday work for 6 hours a day, at 150 W.
| State | Rate | Per day | Per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| New South Wales | 32.4¢ | 29¢ | $106 |
| Victoria | 29.8¢ | 27¢ | $97.89 |
| Queensland | 31.2¢ | 28¢ | $102 |
| South Australia | 38.1¢ | 34¢ | $125 |
| Western Australia | 33.6¢ | 30¢ | $110 |
| Tasmania | 28.9¢ | 26¢ | $94.94 |
| Australian Capital Territory | 27.4¢ | 25¢ | $90.01 |
| Northern Territory | 31.7¢ | 29¢ | $104 |
Reference rates for 2026–27. Your row is highlighted once you set your location.
Sources
Electricity rates: AER Default Market Offer (NSW, SA, south-east QLD), Victorian Default Offer, and each remaining state's regulated tariff, current for 2026–27. Appliance figures: the energyrating.gov.au registration database (July 2026 snapshot). Methods and assumptions are described on each page.