Turning the tables on google

[freebeard]

I went through Xist's experience with Google Chrome. I was using Firefox for everything except Flash, and Chrome for that. When Chrome made itself unavailable, I re-evaluated and went to Opera+Flash. I like https://addons.opera.com/en/extensio...ls/stopsocial/.

For the longest time I ran iCab (a Mac only browser from a 4-person software shop in Germany) so the spooks would sort me from the rest of the tiny minority on the Mac OS. Well, that and it has a built in HTML validator. I see they're still around but it looks like they more into their mobile version for iOS.

[Xist]

I have difficulty sleeping without listening to music, so I have my laptop play Classical.

Once the screen turns off, it would still use way more energy than a normal stereo, right?

I have one of those. I taped up the box years ago when I shipped off for adventures and, like many things, it is waiting for me to settle in somewhere.

To be honest, I really do not know where I would put it, but now that I am less than a mile from the station, hopefully I would finally have good reception!

This came up with my mother and she asked "Isn't that a very expensive stereo?"

"I didn't purchase it just to play music!"

"Of course not! You are just wearing it out faster!"

Many non-computer people have told me that computers are not designed to run all day, while I have always heard from computer people that leaving them running is fine, but turning them on and off can cause premature damage.

I doubt that turning it on and off once or twice a day would make a difference and I cannot imagine that being an issue when you can put it to sleep or hibernate, which is faster anyway.

What do you guys say about occupying landfills more slowly? Leaving computers running or turning them on and off?

[NachtRitter]

MP3 player?

[freebeard]

What do you guys say about occupying landfills more slowly?

My last paying gig was at the thrift store at an electronics recycler, so I'd start with buy 2nd hand. For instance my Laserjet printer cost me $30 and will work 'forever'.

Beyond that, the downside of turning electronics on and off is the heating/cooling cycle stresses solder joints and they fail. It's like not hot-rodding your car.

With the computer asleep you can still flip a switch on all the wall warts (they consume power 24/7) and turn off the monitor if it doesn't sleep on it's own.

The original 128k Macintosh in 1984 drew 15w, about the same as a light light.

[Arragonis]

Originally Posted by freebeard

...The original 128k Macintosh in 1984 drew 15w, about the same as a light light.

A current lappy consumes about 40-90w which (at 3-6 times the draw) seems a waste by comparison. But it is also doing around 3-400 times more work*

*(yeah I know there is a lot more to performance than Mhz vs Ghz...)

[freebeard]

Those hard drives don't spin themselves, you know.

What struck me in '84 was that it put out about as much light as a nightlight, and that light was encoded with information basically for free.

[Arragonis]

That 40-90 includes HDDs, and with SSDs it can be even lower The overall distribution is interesting - for the original Mac I bet the biggest power usage was for the CRT but now with flat screens with LED style lights the biggest draw is the processor - which is what does the most work.

Also worth noting that original Mac didn't multitask at all, a modern Mac / PC does loads of stuff in the background.

[RedDevil]

Why not compare it with a tablet? Move with the times, gentlemen

[Arragonis]

Originally Posted by RedDevil

Why not compare it with a tablet? Move with the times, gentlemen

Because an original Mac wasn't a tablet ?

But I get the idea.

[Xist]

Yes, well, I have bought $2,000 in laptops in the last two months. I can do without a tablet.

I tried listening to the radio on my iPod, but it quickly drained the battery, and using earbuds while I sleep is ineffective.

By the way, I bought an SSD, it died, I mailed it back, and I am waiting to hear from Crucial. Hopefully, the Squaretrade box comes soon so that I can mail back the first laptop and see if they can fix it. If not, they reimburse the purchase!