6 ms·
If you don't need GPIO, then you don't need a RPi. They are useful, but an old laptop can do most things a Pi can do, and putting them to use keeps them out of
by geocrasher 4y ago
If you don't need GPIO, then you don't need a RPi. They are useful, but an old laptop can do most things a Pi can do, and putting them to use keeps them out of the landfill longer.
- theblazehen 4y agoAnd includes built in battery backup
- dijit 4y agoNormally a good idea to remove the battery actually, they bulge over time and could present a fire hazard.
- magicalhippo 4y agoThat assumes the battery still works. I have some old laptops, but few have usable batteries.
- comprev 4y agoA laptop would consume significantly more power than an RPi.
- kube-system 4y agoHowever, you can buy a lot of electricity for the price of a scalped RPi these days.
- timeon 4y agoThis is true. But some people are not concerned just about the price.
- tasuki 4y agoWhat are you concerned about?
- SkyPuncher 4y agoThe feeling of waste when I'm running a 20 watt laptop in the corner 365/24/7.
- tasuki 4y ago20 watt is very little. Are you sure it's more of a waste than buying a brand new energy-efficient device?
- kube-system 4y agoDepends on the use case and your perspective. If you want to run a few dozen lines of code to do something like monitoring a sensor and calling an API endpoint -- a microcontroller can do that with milliwatts of power.
- BlackLotus89 4y agoDepends on the laptop really. Got enough laptops that use 1W idle with display off while the pi seldom idles because every process is work
- geocrasher 4y agoI hear this argument all the time. But unless you're doing something that's solar, battery, RTG or otherwise non-grid powered, then what does it really matter? At what scale is a person running so many old laptops that they need to switch to RPi's to save power? And if that person can afford the Pi's, they can afford the power, so there's no point quoting power costs.
- justeleblanc 4y agoI can also afford to let my faucet run 24/7. Should I do it to avoid needing to turn the knob when I need to wash my hands?
- comprev 4y agoHere in Ireland water (to domestic properties) is free - as I embarrassingly discovered when phoning them up to setup an account :) In theory, I could leave all the taps on 24/7, however that’s A) abuse of a free service, and B) a complete waste of resources. Even cleaning the car I’m very strict about turning the hose off when I’m using the sponges.
- justeleblanc 4y agoGood, you understood my point. Using an overpowered device is a complete waste of resources.
- geocrasher 4y agoI didn't say that having resources meant they should be abused. I said that if somebody can afford $150 for a RPi can afford $2.50/mo for power instead of $0.50/mo for power, and that as a result, factoring in lower power use is a poor reason for buying something you don't otherwise need, especially when that power is easily available. If that power were coming from locally finite source such as solar or wind, or battery, it's a different story.
- justeleblanc 4y ago
- outworlder 4y ago> A laptop would consume significantly more power than an RPi. Not necessarily true. Even some of the TinyMiniMicros mentioned in the article have a single digit W consumption when idle (because they are basically laptop parts). Now, when loaded this would be true. However, their higher processing power also means tasks get completed faster, so they don't stay at the higher power states for long.
- Steltek 4y agoI'm a bigger fan of Dell desktop that companies have put out to pasture after a refresh cycle. They're very expandable, have plenty of horsepower, and the idle power draw isn't that bad. The better thermal characteristics compared to a laptop usually lead to very long life as well. Related to a sibling comment, a decent UPS could power a Dell like that for a couple of hours if it's mostly idling.
- pcdoodle 4y agoThat and latitude laptops. Optipliex desktop is around 10-15W idle Laptops with screen off can hit around 5W (close to pi under load). I would assume what loads the pi would almost be idle in these older dell machines.
- thomasjb 4y agoYes, I've got a Dell T3610 under the desk here now. My only beef is that it has weird Dell proprietary hardware, so I can't easily fit quieter fans to the PSU, or reuse the case with an ATX mobo
- antx 4y agoThat's a broad generalization. Sure, reduce, re-use, recycle. But... it's nice to have a system that has a very minimal footprint, which isn't exactly the case with a laptop. Then again, we can argue semantics over "need" vs "want".
- DeathArrow 4y ago> but an old laptop can do most things a Pi can do, and putting them to use keeps them out of the landfill longer. But you'll lose Internet points.
- sheepdog 4y agoAgreed. A laptop also comes with battery backup, screen, and input devices out of the gate. Granted, it consumes more power than RPi. But a laptop is definitely a solid choice, based on my experience with RPi resets and corrupted SD cards, etc.
- outworlder 4y ago> If you don't need GPIO, then you don't need a RPi. You might not need a Pi. You can by a hundred ESP8266 boards for the price of a modern Pi. ESP8266 and ESP32 are also more forgiving with their GPIOs.