rdeschene2
05-12-2008, 12:56 PM
I've been walking around the house seeing how many watts various appliances use when running, and have really realized how much more efficient and versatile my old laptop is than the computer I'm using as an NAS. A P-II/450MHz (currently running NASlite) running at idle with no monitor draws around 29W whereas my Dell Latitude C600 (P-III/700MHz clocked down to 550MHz) only draws 13W when the CPU is running at 100% on a grid computing project, the display is off and the CPU fan isn't running. At 550MHz and when lying on its side edge there's enough passive cooling to keep the CPU fan from kicking in.
So comparatively speaking I could be using an old laptop for a NAS, print server and router while putting its excess CPU cycles to good use, have a lot more CPU and RAM than a usual dedicated device and have a built-in display and keyboard. All while paying for less energy. Makes sense as laptops are designed around low energy use in the first place.
Not a huge savings but it has interesting potential for a SOHO, especially when a 160GB 2.5" HD is around $50-$60 and many people have such old laptops going unused.
So comparatively speaking I could be using an old laptop for a NAS, print server and router while putting its excess CPU cycles to good use, have a lot more CPU and RAM than a usual dedicated device and have a built-in display and keyboard. All while paying for less energy. Makes sense as laptops are designed around low energy use in the first place.
Not a huge savings but it has interesting potential for a SOHO, especially when a 160GB 2.5" HD is around $50-$60 and many people have such old laptops going unused.