Are you really ever going to light up 2048 pixels at full duty cycle (meaning all white, full power) and leaving them on for longer than a second? If not, then you don’t need to worry about it.
I usually budget 15-25mA/px, if they’re more or less a pure hue.
No, I’m not going to be running fully white patterns and not high saturation stuff for more than a flash. The real limiting factor is the current the batteries can push out anyhow—I’m thinking 4-6 iPad external batteries at 3A each, so 12-18A total.
Keep in mind I find the ICs themselves draw about 1mA regardless of pixel state, it adds up! Though that may have to do with my constant bitstream (not much idling)
That’s about what I’ve seen too for “dark energy”: 1mA, more or less.
WS28xx draw about that much, LPD8806 draw less if I recall correctly.