161–170 of 288 posts
Assuming that the author's motivations are "environment" related, why does he not compare power consumption differences between a 2006 laptop and say 2015 one?
Couldn't he buy a used 2015 Chromebook (or a 2015 Thinkpad for that matter) and get much better power consumption results? I'm guessing the difference isn't small. I think it has to an order of magnitude difference.
The 11" Macbook Air solved the laptop form factor. Thin, light, very portable, USB ports on each side , headphone jack and an external monitor port (in this case, thunderbolt). Could there be some refinements to my 2015 MBA ? Certainly - the two type-A USB ports could remain type A but be upgraded to USB3 ... you could add a USB-C port on each side in place of the magsafe and lightning ports and gain the ability to c…
> The 11" Macbook Air solved the laptop form factor. That's weirdly-specific. Some people would prefer a larger screen size, for example. > Could there be some refinements to my 2015 MBA ? I upgraded from a 2015 (I think) MBA to a 2018 model (both 13" ones), and two actual improvements that I like are: larger trackpad size, and smaller overall dimensions (so there's a smaller bezel around the screen, for example).
And some people need a larger screen because we don't run the highest resolution possible. I run my 24" 4k monitors at high-density 1080p. My 16" laptop screen is at 1536x960 or 1344x840.
Anything smaller than a 16" MacBook Pro doesn't leave enough screen space to work with.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Have you considered a desktop? They are much faster than laptops, who are constrained by thermal issues. It’s hard to dissipate 500W+ of heat from a laptop-sized thing, they simply don’t have enough available surface for air intakes and exhausts. If you want a smaller one to be occasionally portable, there’s Mini-ITX. I currently use a PC I built in this case: https://www.fractal-design.com/products/cases/node/node-2…
Second the Node, very portable, quiet. It is a bit difficult to assemble though. And you need to double check your parts will fit
It's a bit big compared to other small form factor options(still smaller than midtower cases) but the hardware compatibility is great!
I manage to fit in a 5950x CPU and 3080 GPU with just an air cooler and it's working without thermal issues.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's indeed the differential nature of markets. People have a finite memory capacity.. once they forgot that trousers used to have cuffs.. you can reintroduce it as novelty. -- Marcus Aurelius
What was old is new again. -- someone else (rephrased Aurelius? Probably)
These days I would say just buy an rPi 4B+ ... it's tiny, it's light, it doesn't need noisy fans (the first bane of old laptops), it doesn't require ancient non-uniform battery technology (the second bane of old laptops), keyboard and screen can be upgraded when destroyed (the third and fourth banes of old laptops), it's cheap, it's fast enough for nearly anything. Invest some extra in a wireless keyboard and mouse,…
Like beelink line
I get the point the author is trying to make, but I think the environmental savings on not buying a laptop are miniscule comparing to all the other components of his carbon footprint. That flight from Belgium to Spain alone, which he likely took, was around 1,000 megajoules.
Also 4000 megajoules is like 1/10th of the average energy spent in UK to heat a house, so upgrade your insulation and get a green energy provider.
I have a similar attitude to the author. I bought one new laptop in my lifetime but realised that second-hand or refurbished offer better value for money. For the past eight years, I’ve been using a Core 2 Duo Dell Vostro from 2007. I’m conscious of the environmental cost to manufacturing brand new devices so I only ever buy second-hand mobile phones and I apply the same philosophy to other consumer goods – cars (20…
I'd enjoy some numbers on the environmental damage of laptop versus desktop consumption. My desktop is 6 years old with an i7 CPU (high-end) and 750Ti GPU (entry level). My monitor is a 24" 1080 Samsung bought new in 2009 for ~$120 at Frys if I recall. All in all, this package cost me $1,300 (there was a sale on the i7 at purchase). I use it heavily for photography, occasional video and audio, and I'm currently playi…
If you then consider that, unless tbe person is mental, they'd normally sell the laptop, it's not that bad.
Someone once posted a website they made in the HN comments that filtered Craigslist/Ebay for the exact old style laptops to reuse... does anyone remember what that was, or what it was called? Was a very nice way to keep on top of the offerings in a region without having to keep track of all the keywords.
They quietly dropped those this past September.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24840310
https://forums.craigslist.org/?ID=309670165
https://forums.craigslist.org/?act=searchFrameMaker&SQ=rss&f...
https://forums.craigslist.org/?act=searchFrameMaker&SQ=rss&f...
Even the demo feeds are mostly broken: https://www.craigslist.org/about/rss
For a low-tech solar powered website, it does require a lot of loading (>500Kb for the homepage, >350kb just for this article). You should optimize your images. This would probably drastically reduce your electricity use per unique visitor. Nice article by the way. I love the frugality.