Does showing seconds on the system tray clock really increase power consumption?
In Windows, you can choose whether or not to display a clock in the system tray, but as a sub-option, you can also choose whether or not to display the seconds. When you try to display the seconds, you get a message that 'This will increase power consumption.' Someone has investigated whether this is true.
Does Showing Seconds in the System Tray Actually Use More Power? | LTT Labs
Wooley Dore of LLT Labs, a company that reviews and analyzes various devices, decided to test it after seeing a Reddit post asking LTT to investigate whether displaying seconds in Windows really increases power consumption . Since the option is off by default and there's no need to take the trouble to shorten battery life, Dore said he had never paid attention to this setting before.
In Windows 11, open 'Settings' and find the item in the 'Date and Time' section of the 'Time and Language' tab.
Dore measured battery consumption in two scenarios: idle and full-screen video playback with the clock displayed, with and without the seconds displayed in the system tray. The test computers used were the ASUS ROG Zephyrus M16 GU604VZ (16-inch), the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 (13.8-inch), and the Asus Zenbook (16-inch).
The measurement results for 'doing nothing' are below. The horizontal axis is battery life, and for both PCs, 'no second display' (red) lasts slightly longer than 'second display' (blue).
However, under the condition of 'video playback,' the results vary.
To ensure the results were consistent, Doerr repeated the measurements under the same conditions, and this time the 'seconds display' option was the better option in every case.
Dore points out that previous similar experiments on the news site Neowin and the Microsoft developer blog 'The Old New Thing' both produced better results without the seconds display, but points out that factors such as Wi-Fi performance, the external temperature at the time of the test, and uncontrollable background processes may have had an impact. He concludes that the difference in power consumption with or without the seconds display is unlikely to be noticeable in everyday use.
Microsoft says this Windows 11 taskbar setting can worsen your battery life, is it true? - Neowin
https://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-says-this-windows-11-taskbar-setting-can-worsen-your-battery-life-is-it-true/
The ongoing story of seconds on the taskbar - The Old New Thing
https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20250421-00/?p=111095
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in Software, Posted by logc_nt