Comparison of energy consumption of Raspberry PI generations 3, 4 and 5, and typical mini-PC used at LRO

Here’s a comparison of typical power consumption (no peripherals or display) for each device, measured at the wall under different workloads.

Device	Idle Power	Moderate Load (e.g. data logging, web, Python)	Heavy Load (CPU 100%, GPU active)	Notes
Raspberry Pi 3B+	2.5 W	4 W	6 W	5 V @ 1.2 A typical, micro-USB powered
Raspberry Pi 4 (4 GB)	3 W	5 W	7–8 W	5 V @ 1.5 A typical; can briefly hit 9 W if all cores + GPU
Raspberry Pi 5 (8 GB)	4–5 W	7–9 W	12–14 W	27 W PSU recommended; more power-hungry but far faster
Mini PC – Dell i5, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD	8–12 W	18–25 W	35–55 W	Depends on model (e.g. OptiPlex Micro, Inspiron Mini); typically 19 V DC supply

Summary:

• Raspberry Pi 3 → 4 → 5 shows roughly double power use each generation, but massive performance gains.
• Mini PC (Intel i5 class) uses about 3–5× more power than Pi 5 but delivers desktop-grade performance.
• If left on 24 h/day:
  • Pi 3 ≈ 0.06 kWh/day
  • Pi 4 ≈ 0.10 kWh/day
  • Pi 5 ≈ 0.20 kWh/day
  • Dell Mini PC ≈ 0.60 kWh/day