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Laptop vs. Small Desktop: Best Bang Per Watt?

Posted by timothy on 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."

2 of 526 comments (clear)

  1. huh? by mz001b · · Score: 0, Troll

    I thought you unabomber types sworn off technology. Get yourself a good old IBM manual typewriter and write your manifesto.

  2. Re:wtf by gklinger · · Score: 0, Troll
    Why must 'having fun' and 'using a computer' be mutually exclusive?

    Clearly you're not a Windows user.