4 ms·
No, they are completely reconcilable. The amount of power it takes to run a powerful consumer CPU is trivial compared to the amount of power used in many other
by slaymaker1907 6y ago
No, they are completely reconcilable. The amount of power it takes to run a powerful consumer CPU is trivial compared to the amount of power used in many other common applications like heating, vehicles, etc. This effect is particularly pronounced when you consider that laptops use way less energy than desktops (on average) and mobile computing as a whole is displacing desktops outside of niches like PC gaming.
The environmental issue doesn't make sense IMO, but increasing hardware requirements does have real impact on accessibility.
- ajxs 6y agoThese effects scale. If every single laptop uses a small amount more power than is necessary, the relatively minor increase in energy use for one computer totals up to a significant increase in overall energy usage. Not to mention the unnecessary obsolescence of hardware. The externalities of manufacturing new hardware - and disposing of old hardware - are extremely significant. Just so what? So my perfectly good 10 year old laptop has enough RAM to run 6 Electron apps at once? Sure, your ceiling lights use less energy than your fridge. That's not a justification for everyone to completely ignore turning them off when not needed.
- FooBarWidget 6y agoEven if they add up, they still pale in comparison to the amount of energy you can offset with a couple of windmills.