One important aspect when choosing a casting device is power consumption. In this article we compare the Chromecast 3 (2018 Version) with the Chromecast Ultra.
In our tests, we compare idle and active wattage. Chromecast 3 needs about 0.6 W (watts) in idle while Chromecast Ultra consumes 1.7 W. When watching YouTube videos in HD, the consumption increases slightly to 1.0 W for Chromecast 3 and 2.0 W for Chromecast Ultra. The numbers are shown in Table 1.
| Google Chromecast 3 | Google Chromecast Ultra | |
| Idle | 0.6 W | 1.7 W |
| YouTube HD | 1.0 W | 2.0 W |
Conclusion
If you own a 4K TV, we recommend buying Google Chromecast Ultra. With a FullHD TV, Google Chromecast 3 is the better choice because of lower energy consumption. Note that Chromecast 3 can also be connected to your LAN using the Ethernet adapter if needed.