EcoWarrior PCs

[eean]

Here's a slightly new spin on the age old 'what PC should I buy' question:

 

Thinking about getting 15 to 30 new PCs for our ICT suite before April and going to get 3 new PCs now. RMs current push on their EcoQuiet got me thinking... I applaud them for that (I don't applaud them for still making PCs that come with 256MB of ram, however ).

 

According to RM, each computer would save £83 over 5 years, which isn't much really, so I can't justify spending a whole pile of cash on it.

 

Anyone else gone/going down the Green PC route?

 

I've done a some research and, surprisingly, not many companies have jumped on this bandwagon yet. The US have just released EnergyStar 4 spec, which looks quite strict, for a change.

 

RM

"100 watts less than standard pc"

Windows xp on windows vista business downgrade.

1.6 Dual Core

1gb ram

3yr warranty

£540

 

 

Lenevo ThinkCentre A61e

Memory - 512MB DDR II SDRAM

Processor - AMD 2.1GHz Athlon 64 X2 BE-2350

Hard Drive - 80GB

Energy Star 4

45Watts

3yr warranty

£271 + Monitor

 

Dell

Optiplex 755 Core 2 Duo

Windows Vista Buisness

2GB Ram

19” monitor

3yr standard warranty

Energy Star 4

£530

I can only find it with the large case, unfortunately.

 

The Lenevo looks quite good VFM. How do the AMD X2 compare to the Duo's? The 512mb ram is a bit thin, but it's only just been released so hopefully more options will come out soon. What are Lenevo like? (Used to be IBM?)

 

I've also seen Tranquil PC, which have no Fans and are about 20watt, but at £700+ for a decent spec, that's a bit steep.

 

Anyone else got experience or opinion?

[PeterW]

You have nicely positioned those systems in order of power consumption, stating with the mobile on desktop solution then with the amd solution (btw 45W is the TDP of the cpu not the consumption of the whole system which would be around 100W) and then the standard desktop cpu Core 2 Duo.

Generally the price will increase for the lower power solutions, the AMD cpu is about £15.00 premium over the standard version of the cpu X2 4000. The most expensive being the Mobile Pentium Dual Core or Core 2 Duo, these solutions require a mainboard witha mobile chipset and will command a £100 - £150 premium over a similar spec desktop cpu solution depending on the cpu.

 

at SCL we have, and currently do evaluate mobile on desktop solutions but so far the current feedback tends to be along the lines of "Electricity does not come off our budget so why should we spend more on a lower power solution" & "If it came down to it we would use a completet thin client solution to minimize power consumption".

 

We can provide both AMD low power desktop cpu and intel mobile on desktop cpu solutions but are rarely asked for them.

[russdev]

I have to say we use EcoQuiet here and yes we are using less electricity etc. But more importantly we use them for one very good reason they don't generate much noise and heat.

[pete]

We've had a room full of Thinkcentre 8320s (IBM, pre-Lenovo) for nearly 3 years and I'd reccommend them. Build quality is good and I've never had to swap out hardware. A row of them got soaked while powered on when the roof leaked and they worked fine after being dried out.

 

Haven't looked at the latest Lenovo desktops though.