What consumes more power running off of battery power?

[Thieflock]

For a notebook running on its battery what consumes more power, the internal hard drive, an external hard drive, or the disc drive?

I would assume from least power consumption to greater it would be:
Internal hard drive
External hard drive
Disc drive

[KingTermite]

First is the LCD, I'm sure.

External, you need a clearer definition. All externals I've used are powered separately, so they don't use any power from the laptop.

Hard drive (internal) would probably come in 2nd for sure though....because of the moving mechanical parts.

[klange]

First is the LCD, I'm sure.

LCD? No. Backlight? Yes.
An LCD does not take much power in itself. But the backlight is the most power consuming part of any laptop, even ones that use LEDs.

It depends on the specifics for the internal/external hard drive. If you have an external, say, USB-powered hard drive that has larger cylinders (IE, a "full sized" one), it would take more power to spin than a notebook drive simply due to physics.

[FuturePilot]

Wireless is a killer on battery.

[Thieflock]

I thought my question was very specific, but I will elaborate since you guys have gone off on a tangent. I work the overnight shift which usually ends up with my watching a movie on my laptop. There are three ways in which I can watch a movie on my laptop and those three ways are stated above, get my drift? I don't care about the LCD because I can just turn down the brightness if I want. Also, the external does not have its own power source, the laptop is the power source.

[tom66]

LCD then the CPU, because the CPU doesn't often switch off (although it can) while the HDD has the chance to a lot (think how often the HDD light on your PC is blinking, it's not that often).

External accessories (e.g. USB) consume variable amounts of current, up to 500 mA and 5.25 volts, but this is tiny in comparison to the other components of the computer.

[Thieflock]

Lol, sometimes the forums do nothing.

I love you guys.

[TBOL3]

He, he, well, if it makes you feel any better, I'll try to answer your question, but I know nothing as well.

i'm pretty sure the internal takes the least.

Then, depending on how well it's made, the external.

Then the cd, but it could be less then the external.

Once again, I'm only guessing. Why not try each a few days and see?

[Lostincyberspace]

He, he, well, if it makes you feel any better, I'll try to answer your question, but I know nothing as well.

i'm pretty sure the internal takes the least.

Then, depending on how well it's made, the external.

Then the cd, but it could be less then the external.

Once again, I'm only guessing. Why not try each a few days and see?
That is the most reliable way to find out which is better. Just try it out a couple of nights with the different options and you will get the movies watched at the same time while answering it for future people.