| New Computer Decisions |
| Posted by: AceBHound on Jan 11th, 2012 8:46 PM |
| I'm in the market for a new desktop or laptop (or both). Not quite sure which way to go, I've always had both a desktop and laptop for the last 10 years or so and have generally had my desktop serving something -- be it music, virtual machines, or media center content. But I'm starting to think about what I "primarily" use an appliance for and base decisions more on that. So if I'm not a heavy gamer, why spend $1000+ on a PC that will just sit idle wasting 250-400 watts of electricity 24/7 if I'm leaving my computer on all day for convenience.
This whole keeping a computer on 24/7 bit has me looking at the new Mac Mini's.. less than 13 watts when idle, the power supplies are rated 85 watts and they usually over-spec those so the Mac Mini is tempting for sheer power saving reasons. For power, the 6-core AMD processors are cool, but the cheaper AMD Phenom II processor runs at 125 watt (processor itself). That seems a little crazy but imagine it's cause the 6-core thing is new and they'll keep shrinking the cpu dies down and get back to power saving on those. I can argue having as much power as possible for a cheap price, but just as easily argue reasons to go with the most energy-saving computer that's faster than what I currently have. This one will take some figuring out.. |
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