Abstract: An apparatus for dynamically managing the power consumption of peripheral devices in a computer includes at least one peripheral device, a power management unit, and a memory unit. The power management unit includes a daemon program and a device idle time table. The daemon program is used for carrying out a first criterion by determining whether the power supplied to the device is associated with an active application program of the computer based on the device idle time table, and carrying out a second criterion by determining whether the power supplied to the device is associated with the inactive application programs of the computer based on the device idle time table. A power-saving signal is sent to an operating system of the computer when both criteria are satisfied, and the operating system activates an embedded power management utility to turn off the peripheral device in response to the power-saving signal.