Laptop vs. Small Desktop: Best Bang Per Watt?

Posted by timothy on Wednesday December 24, 2003 @09:21AM from the read-the-labels dept.

Deagol writes "Tomorrow I take possession of a remote, wooded lot with a cabin. 15 miles to the nearest utility pole, my electricity options are limited to those I can generate myself, solar being my primary goal. I'm sitting here staring at my power meter, seeing my desktop & monitor draw about 250W -- a non-trivial amount to generate over a 8-to-12 hour workday. I'd be happy with equivalent computing horsepower (1.4GHz T-Bird, 512M RAM, though more is always better). Should I get a small PC with an LCD monitor, or should I get a laptop? Will laptops draw less power (in general), and if so, will losing the modularity and lower cost of commodity PC parts be worth it? I'd love opinions from those who have been in a similar situation."

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Re:I know why he's doing this by ave19 · 2003-12-24 14:28 · Score: 0, Offtopic

No badge for programming, but there is a Usenet Troll badge you can get.

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...or maybe not.
Re:I know why he's doing this by Game+Genie · 2003-12-25 02:57 · Score: 0, Offtopic

There actually is a 'Compters' merit badge, for which you must execute some basic programming task. As far as open source, no. The BSA is far too right wing for that. Bastards.

(BTW, I'm an Eagle scout, I've earned my right to bad mouth the Boy Scouts)