I moved all of my server tasks at home to Raspberry Pi model 3B+ devices and won't look back. This model has only 1 GB memory though and this is not enough to use on a daily base with a GUI for desktop tasks IMHO. I haven't tested the model 4 yet which is shipped with a more powerful processor, max 4GB RAM, 1Gbit wired network and double HDMI because the first series had a compatibility problem with the USB port. But according to Youtube tests, it should be good enough for Libre/OpenOffice applications, browsing and text editing.

If your solar power is providing free, then a second one will provide MORE free ... and your current gear becomes less expensive to operate. Add more free power and save the expense of new gear.

@tangor, yes that's true, thought about it and it will mean a bit of investment (more powerful solar charger/controller) but... I would like more efficient devices. My tablet is fast and does the job perfectly (and so the iPad too) without burning extra energy or heating up, while my laptop also does the job but burns extra power, it's like a gaming laptop used to work on Office.

Talking about details, I'm using a setup without inverter. Meaning no 120V, in those setups the energy is converted from let's say 12V to 120V but... around 15watts are wasted just to keep the inverter on, on idle mode. Hurts the electronics, produces heat (little but it does), noise and hurts the batteries in certain way, I'm sounding too... focused on that but I certainly enjoy the concept of just charging the tablet once per day and using it without needing extra charge.

Just to make some sense out of it: the batteries are the most expensive part of the system (at this time with the technology we have) and so every cycle hurts them, I want mine to last a long time. A solution is building my own direct solar charger for the laptop but it doesn't convince me, it's still too much energy wasted, too many watts per hour.

@explorador ... my reply was a bit tongue in cheek, so a bit more serious this time around:

There are all kinds of efficiencies and when chasing watts (to the low end) some other aspects will suffer. Reality? The Ouch Point.

Great low energy consumption v longer completion wait times.
Shorter-rapid and high graphics v more power expended.

Pick a point you can live with.

Hardware is what it is. The stronger, faster, more capable will use more power.

The less capable, energy saving, eke it out, will increase SOME work times (not all!).

ALL sources of energy are cabon footprint (if that is what you are concerned with) expensive ... if not on the back end, certainly on the front end! TANSTAAFL!

Science/physics has yet to create a perfect zero emission power source, though nuclear is close (but expensive as heck up front to build, and later to deal with the spent byproducts), natural gas is as close to 100% reliable (day, night, cloud, or becalmed), and certain kinds of coal are LESS carbon than others. Humans riding bicycle powered generators comes pretty close (if you don't count growing the fuel they need from birth to death).

But in the end it is the CONSUMPTION of power---the user---which makes all the above necessary. To reduce power, quit using it! (no brainer!)

Since that is not possible, and be a webmaster, too, the search for power efficient devices will continue!

The less capable, energy saving, eke it out, will increase SOME work times (not all!).

Yes, but not exactly. I'm not trying to replace my laptop (exactly) with a low powered device and do the same. My line of work has changed a lot, moving to less demanding tasks in terms of energy and processor power. My Windows Tablet works great for me but the screen is too slow, that's why I'm using the iPad. Both do the job amazingly well and zero waiting, the charge takes time but last longer, days.

A lot of people think a laptop from year 2000 does the same as one from 2019 but just slower, well yes that's right but mostly on Intel and Windows. Sure we can choose a diff OS config to make it faster but the hardware will still consume more power, there is a limit to how far we can go saving power.

But ARM... ARM is a diff thing. ARM tablets and laptops are working amazingly well. I could do all what I'm doing right now on a Surface RT lasting hours on. Same as with a tablet (not all tablets). Sure my Windows tablet and the iPad are doing great. The magic of these devices is there are some heavily optimized for web browsing and word processing. Intel has been adding more and more features and then trying to save power but in tech specs and limitations they are facing problems there. ARM started saving power and adding specific instructions, they are doing better there.

I want to... but I don't want to... buy a Surface RT... I fear I will end up doing that and moving to that device. Even not having serious updates or scaling freedom for 10 years, what that device has will surely keep on doing the work for me for years.


As an example: the kind of work I'm doing right now with my laptop requires 3 full charges during one day. On the Windows Tablet I can do the same job using just 1 charge or 1.5 at most. On the iPad I can do all the work with one charge lasting 4 days. I love it.

A bit of background here:

Years ago I would have some free time after lunch and after dinner and so I would use a Pocket PC with a folding keyboard. That little machine allowed me to create lots of original content just writing. I would have my information sources near me and when needed I would go online. Both the Pocket Pc and the folding Keyboard fitted in my pockets. The battery life was enough for 1-2 hours of work per day. I would also use this thing when traveling and also got one Compact Flash GPS adapter and built my own serial cable to use with a Samsung Cellphone back in the days.

Later I got a small Android Laptop, it sucked :) but it allowed me to work the same way. The battery would last around 2-3 hours, there was no real battery charge indicator, only a fake useless battery icon but the thing helped me. It had WIFI, multimedia sound and USB ports. Whenever I needed extra time just plugged a Power Bank. It was pretty but not that useful because the keyboard was just too small, not that useful compared to my past setup because the folding KB was full size keys, pretty neat.

Played around with an Atom laptop (Acer), nice battery life around 4 hours, decent keyboard and nice screen size. Sold it and I regret that, then played with a Celeron laptop but didn't like the energy consumption that much, then played with a more modern Celeron laptop and the battery life was awesome (5 hours), full size Keyboard, large screen, etc. But still consumed too much energy. I could go back to the Acer or this one (Lenovo).

But using my tablet and iPad sure make me think twice. I'm doing a lot of reading and some writing, these devices are doing the job exceeding my expectations.

Always thought I'd like some of that small stuff ... then again I am going blind by inches and "small" is becoming problematic. Where I live electricity is still cheap, the world is not coming to an end, and the sky remains blue. I DO however, turning off lights when I leave room, avoid electric blankets, see no reason for food processors (I have a sharp knife), or charge electric anything via the expense of fossil fuel. :)

And at my age, a little bit of heat in the room pleasures the bones.

YMMV, AND I AM NOT POKING FUN or BEING RUDE ... just come at life from a different viewpoint. I truly admire conservationists. I am one myself.

It's ok.

Years ago a friend told me the story of his boss, changing his computer every year in order to have the most complete, fastest, powerful etc PC. But he used it only to send some emails and write a couple of letters. It was a wasted device.

I'm just enjoying the benefits of portability, efficiency, cool device (one that doesn't gets too hot or actually won't get hot at all), amazing battery life and yes I'm on the boat of "turn on and it's everything there", fast response and mostly low latency (keyboard, it gets worse as computers get faster), I'm fast at typing. There are several tasks I do today that while pay the bills quite well, don't require so much computational power.

In fact just like the story of that boss (friend's boss), many people are absolutely ok working with a laptop from 2005 in terms of computational power (except for the fact those aren't that efficient as some of the new ones).

The energy embodied in any computer will likely far exceed the energy used in it's lifetime. Generally most of the cost of new electrical devices is due to the energy consumption in manufacture and development, so if you spend $1k to save $10 in energy then you are probably not helping the environment all that much.

I can't hold my head up high at the moment as I've just bought a new laptop myself. 10 years is about as long as you can sensibly keep the things before technology moves on and you can't connect to wifi any more. But might be an idea to try to reach that point before buying something new if overall energy saving really is your driver.