A typical desktop uses about 200-300 watts. This strip would have a logic board and either electro-mechanical relays or solid state components to control the switched outlets. How can that consume anything close to 200 watts?

This is a far less expensive option than a switched PDU such as what is commonly used in data centers. They can easily cost more than $1000. If you don't have a lot of devices to control I believe this would be a good inexpensive option. I do agree, however, that some power-saving stats would have been helpful.