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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Laptop is probably the better way to go. by strider3700 · 2003-12-24 09:50 · Score: 0, Redundant

You didn't mention if you'll be living in this cabin or just up there now and again. Around here cabins that aren't always occupied get broken into 2-3 times a year on average, so if thats possible down there get the laptop and take it home with you. As well the power drain is lower, the built in battery helps a lot when you're running on a flakey power grid similar to what you intend to build, and It's more useful overall then a PC. the only issue is cost, but it'll help cut down on your power requirements and probably make up the difference on solar panels.