From owner-freebsd-mobile Thu Nov 14 14: 3:44 2002 Delivered-To: freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 54EAC37B401 for ; Thu, 14 Nov 2002 14:03:42 -0800 (PST) Received: from msgbas1.net.europe.agilent.com (msgbas1x.net.europe.agilent.com [192.25.19.109]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 69CED43E75 for ; Thu, 14 Nov 2002 14:03:36 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from darrylo@soco.agilent.com) Received: from msgrel1.britain.agilent.com (msgrel1.britain.agilent.com [156.141.50.57]) by msgbas1.net.europe.agilent.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id D74E797D; Thu, 14 Nov 2002 23:03:29 +0100 (MET) Received: from mina.soco.agilent.com (mina.soco.agilent.com [141.121.54.157]) by msgrel1.britain.agilent.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1C4FF58C; Thu, 14 Nov 2002 22:03:28 +0000 (GMT) Received: from mina.soco.agilent.com (darrylo@localhost [127.0.0.1]) by mina.soco.agilent.com (8.9.3 (PHNE_25184)/8.9.3 SMKit7.1.1_Agilent) with ESMTP id OAA11889; Thu, 14 Nov 2002 14:00:50 -0800 (PST) Message-Id: <200211142200.OAA11889@mina.soco.agilent.com> To: Bakul Shah Cc: mobile@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: using a laptop as a main machine Reply-To: Darryl Okahata In-Reply-To: Your message of "Thu, 14 Nov 2002 11:50:44 PST." <200211141950.OAA13322@leviathan.cnchost.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 (generated by tm-edit 1.7) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Date: Thu, 14 Nov 2002 14:00:49 -0800 From: Darryl Okahata Sender: owner-freebsd-mobile@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Bakul Shah wrote: > Even if you leave > it on all the time, my guess is it saves between 100 to 200 > W/hr. or about 0.876 to 1.752 Megawatt-hours a year (about > $140 and $280 a year for me). Now multiply that 3 to 5 > times! This assumes that you have the money to buy 3 to 5 new (or even used) laptops. Not cheap (unless you're rich and have money to burn ;-). > Even for a home file/backup/print server I wonder if a > desktop is all that good. As people have said, desktops and laptops have their advantages and disadvantages. Each person's situation is different, and what's good for you, may or may not be good for someone else. > Its internal disks get too hot, Not always. [ Note that some (many?) laptops get hot, too, and, like desktops, the laptop hard drives can make loud annoying whines. ] > its fans fail, Not always. (Note that laptops also have fans that can fail.) > you need a UPS, True. > hard to replace parts etc. Huh??? Laptops have parts that are *MUCH* harder to replace. If you have a desktop that's made from commodity parts, it's pretty easy to fix. With a laptop, you either get to pay lots of money (unless you paid a lot for a very long warranty, and, even then, repair parts may no longer be available), or you're screwed (you get to rummage on eBay for parts). If you're fortunate, the laptop battery will probably be the first thing to go (within, oh, 2-5 years), and you'll probably pay $100-$200+ to replace it, assuming that you can find a replacement (you probably can, but there's no guarantee). > Commercially available file servers are not there yet: too > slow, Huh??? The fastest desktops are faster than the fastest laptops. In addition to having slower processors, note that laptop hard drives are also slower than desktop drives. > too expensive, Again, huh??? Laptops are more expensive than desktops (for similar-performing systems). You're probably going to pay $500-$1000 more on a laptop, than for a comparable desktop system of similar quality (well, LCD displays aside, that is). > power hungry. A fast laptop is usually > good enough. True, and (often) true. -- Darryl Okahata darrylo@soco.agilent.com DISCLAIMER: this message is the author's personal opinion and does not constitute the support, opinion, or policy of Agilent Technologies, or of the little green men that have been following him all day. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-mobile" in the body of the message