On Fri, 25 Aug 2006 10:04:43 +0100, "Christian McArdle"
wrote:

There's something that could do with creative regulation, why do PCs
use 50-100W when laptops use 15W (including the screen!).

The desktops frequently don't use 50-100W if set up properly with the energy
saving options implemented. Set it to halt the processor on idle, shut off
the screen and power down the disks and it won't eat that much more than a
laptop.

I'm not so sure, I made a SFF PC with a fairly modest 1.6G CPU,
normally it idled at 60W, with maximum underclocking/undervolting that
dropped to ~40W.

Then I got a 1.7G Centrino laptop, when the screen was off it idled at
10W!

For a PC that's on 24/7 and needs to be silent, IMHO it can work out
cheaper to get a laptop that uses little power than a desktop with all
the mods to make it as quiet as possible.

With firewire and a big external disc it would make a good home server
too. Plus it has a built in UPS

cheers,
Pete.