I am running openSUSE 13.2 "Factory" (13.2 is not-yet released) on a laptop with a built-in wireless broadcom BCM4313. This device consumes a *lot* of power and (usually, but not always) works. When the module is loaded, powertop reports that it uses between 4 and 6 *Watts*. I have four other wireless devices here, and they consume far less: ZD1211RW - 600-1300 mW AR5523 - 100-200 mW Rx200 - 100-200 mW rtl8192cu - 100-200 mW This turns my battery life down and (helps to) make the laptop run hot.
Also reported at https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=890454 Per a comment in that bugzilla, I tried kernel 3.16.0-rc7-2-desktop (and openSUSE kernel) with backports-20140725: admittedly, it's not a perfect test, but now brcmsmac seems to consume much less: - 350mW to 3900mW However, that's still 3 to 30x what the rtl8129cu appears to be using.