OFF GRID COMPUTING
The standard advice for computing off grid with little in the way of electric generating power is to have a notebook/laptop computer to save on energy. I am assuming here that you do not have a generator. They are relatively cheap but without a bit of bother to suppress the noise they are irritating to run daily. Here you are out in the middle of nowhere and your peace and quiet, your solitude, is interrupted by a noisy contraption. More importantly, they are another link to our fossil fuel dependency. I think it is better to just go with solar panels to begin with ( or a windmill if you suffer from regular cloud cover ). If you do get a cheap generator for construction purposes, just plan on not replacing the machine when it wears out, which will happen in about two thousand hours of use if you buy a cheapie from an auto parts store ( about $200 for a one to one and a half kilowatt unit ).
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I have been questioning this line of reasoning. I have gone through a lot of computers over the years, both desktops and laptops. And I am a bit disenchanted with the laptops. They never last as long as desktops, all things being equal. And they cost three to four times the desktops if you buy a unit needed for broadband. Desktops are three times as powerful in computing power for the same price. You really pay a premium for a compact unit. If you are out in the boonies you will need at least a 800 Mhz computer to connect to a satellite Internet service. So your prices are for that range of machine. A used desktop in that range is under $100 but a laptop is about three times that cost. Now, once you add a LCD monitor to get your electric use down to a reasonable range to spend as much money total for either machine. However, your desktop will last at least twice as long and repairs are easily done on them. Just compare the keyboard replacement of each machine ( I go through keyboards with all my writing ). Or adding memory. Or replacing the power supply.
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Let’s call it a two year life on used desktop machines, one on laptops. You save a hundred bucks a year having a larger unit instead of a laptop. Call solar panel cost three hundred for a laptop, nine hundred for a desktop at the very most ( heavy daily usage, factoring in cloudy days, less than optimal generation ). That is a long payback, six years. However, you also need to factor in redundancy. It is simple to have replacement desktops, they are almost given away. You don’t even need to buy online, they are available used locally. Laptops are not as easy to find used. You most likely will have no backup machine, not cheaply. If you are a casual user, and a computer is not a necessity, stay with a laptop. But, if you are a business owner ( likely as a source of income so you don’t need to commute long distances ) you really need to pay the extra in power and keep a desktop.
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When my desktop breaks, sometimes I can fix it myself. I can always buy one cheaply locally. When the laptop breaks it stays that way and I have to pray I can find another cheap one, usually through the mail. Long delays. Death to a business. Because, really, if a computer is not a necessity for you to make money, most likely you don’t even need it for off grid living. If you need it, you have a replacement always ready. Cheaply available as a desktop. Expensive as a laptop. I have gone through four laptops and none were cheap nor were they powerful enough for broadband. Plus, you could even write off the extra panels as a tax deduction. Have a separate office building perhaps, and the whole thing can easily be proven to be business related ( and after the crash you have a bunch of solar panels and a cast iron heating stove, maybe even a super insulated cabin, that were written off as business expenses ).
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Power consumption for a desktop with flat screen monitor, 125-150 watts. Laptop power use about 60 watts. You take a hit with power consumption, in time the cheaper machine pays for that. Just some food for thought.
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13 comments:
Starting November 12.07 One Laptop Per Child has a "give one get one" opportunity for a limited time. $400 buys 2 XO ruggedized laptops, one of which you keep. Only 2 watt power consumption, and has a hand crank backup! www.laptop.org to check out the specs and further details. Don't know if these last any longer than other laptops, but may be a good option for off grid or soon to be off grid folks.
You should also look into Mini-ITX PCs as well. They're thrifty on power, but have reasonable specs, and are tiny to boot. You can also get a 12V ATX power supply so you can run your computer without the Battery -> inverter -> DC loss. Walmart is selling a mini-itx based PC (albeit in a full sized case) for $200. Throw on a 12V power supply to replace the AC supply built-in and tweak the power settings and you have a ready made power-thrifty machine.
Finally, you can look at using solid state devices for your boot devices. For example, you can use USB drives to boot Linux for your basic web browsing / email / etc. Then, if you really need it, reboot to a standard drive for your full-blown install of Windows / Linux with your "power tools", so to speak. USB flash devices, and other solid state storage devices are much more thrifty on power than your standard IDE/SATA/SCSI drive.
This is a relevant topic, as one of the most important items the survivor can own is information. Hard copies are great (Look Ma - no electricity!) but take up space and can be destroyed easily. E-books / adobe types of documents are much easier to access.
Also make sure that your power inverter used to convert voltage is a good one - one little surge that wouldn't burp a power tool can really play havoc with computer electronics. I'm no where smart enough to provide details, but I'm sure the subject has been covered in Internet documents. Just look into it is all I'm suggesting.
If you are afraid of someone lighting a candle, maybe storing it or one in a homemade Faraday box to prevent EMP damage might be a good idea.
A faraday cage will not magically save anything. If you are concerned about EMP, you need to have _duplicate_ equipment in the faraday cage since anything, such as power cable, your keyboard cable, mouse cable, network/phone cable, etc would carry the EMP to the device.
Hi Jim,
How do we submit an article for your blog?
Skip
Skip
his email address
jimd303@netzero.com
This was well-meant but not really appropriate. Laptops only die sooner than desktops if they're overloaded-- forced to run hot-- or beaten up a lot.
I've had eight laptops since the early 1990s, and they're all still alive and working normally. I've had to replace a couple of hard disks over the years, and some have broken hinges or latches here or there, but all the electronics are fine.
In a survival situation, power consumption is way more important than purchase price because the cost of the solar system is higher than that of the computer. So you save money in the long run by buying the most efficient machine that meets your needs. A laptop can consume less than ten watts, a tenth of even a low-end desktop system, which means you can save a thousand dollars on solar panels.
I'd recomment an IBM Thinkpad X40, which is an extremely efficient machine that costs only about $200-$300 on eBay today, or if you have a higher budget, an X60. The best thing about the X40 and X60 is that they're built like rocks and have a good track record.
Current low-cost machines like the Asus Eee PC and the OLPC XO are interesting but a little too new to be made part of survival planning. Maybe by this time next year we'll know more about their long-term reliability.
Update to my previous comment (re: mini-itx PCs). Turns out the motherboard in the $200 walmart PC is available seperately for $60.
http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS5305482907.html
MP3Car has 12V non-auto power supplies for $20 http://store.mp3car.com/category_s/22.htm
Throw in a cheap stick of RAM and whatever hard drive you have laying around and you're done!
"One Laptop Per Child" 55% of Americans are functionally illiterate but the important thing is they have a computer...madness, I say, madness!!
Get that article ready Skip! I'm wanting to read it bad!
Jerry in So IL
I've been running laptop computers off-grid for about 6 years now. The important thing is to look for a 'mobile' processor - they use a lot less power. Also, if the label says the computer uses a max. of 60 Watt, in reality, it probably only uses about 30 W or so. That has been my experience. The max. accounts for running full steam with CD burning, charging batteries and hard drive wizzing. If you get a new one avoid Windows Vista, what a pain in the ass, and slow, and crashes a lot. I am thinking of going dual boot with Ubuntu, supposed to be quite fast, and easy for non-geeks like me. One bit of warning about flash drive for booting Linux - just read somewhere that the flash drives have a limited life expectancy and die without warning. Do a google to check it out (sorry, not kept the links).
I use the computer for work so I can work from home (no car expenses, commuting). I have 4 solar panels for all my needs - plenty in the summer - and a small hydro turbine for the dark winter months when we have plenty of rain in Wales. It cost a packet, but still a lot cheaper than a car, traveling and it is enough for all my household needs too. I use low power consuming stuff, and use hand tools and wind-up gadgets.
There is more about my off-grid life-style on my website.
PS - Just found Puppy Linux which is a very small operating system which can run on old computers, can boot from a live CD etc., but then run in RAM (as I understand) to free up the drive, and minimizes USB writes (if you use a flash stick) so that it doesn't age your stick, and is supposedly very easy. Might be the way to go.
Have any of you heard of this device? I'm interested in hearing about it in field use...Going for off-grid life in 6 more months in deserts of Mexico. Thanks for all your comments.
- World Peace!
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