[stemcc]

RAM is one of your least power hungry components compared to other parts of your computer, such as what generates heat (CPU/GPU) or produces physical motion (fans or spinning drives).

[Bud]

This makes no sense. RAM generates heat just as CPU does, and RAM also actually does consume a substantial percentage of laptop power. However, said usage isn't related to how much RAM is being used, really; it's a constant usage rate to keep the current RAM state alive.

[ptaipale]

Well, it makes sense to me: CPU and GPU take in the order of 10 times as much power as RAM. RAM power usage just isn't depending on load, like that of CPU and graphics.

[cxseven]

Reducing RAM usage will reduce disk activity, though, so there's that.

[0xffff2]

Why would that be? Unless you're frequently running out of RAM and swapping to disk, RAM usage shouldn't correlate to disk usage much, right?

[haneefmubarak]

Because all of that "unused" RAM in the background is actually being used by the OS for disk caching, thus reducing the overall frequency of reads.