That’s definitely a consideration. Are minipcs less power-hungry?
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tux0r@feddit.org 23 hours ago
A laptop is a waste for servers. Too much energy consumption in my opinion.
puck@lemmy.world 23 hours ago
poVoq@slrpnk.net 23 hours ago
No they are not. If you get one with a special low power CPU they can be about the same, but that very much depends on the exact model.
relativestranger@feddit.nl 18 hours ago
the intel alder lake-n and twin lake-n have some chips with very low tdp… basically just the “e cores” from a desktop cpu, drawing as little as 6w tdp. nice chips if you don’t need the raw compute power of the desktop’s performance cores. they make for nice little servers and laptops for ‘normal’ users.
puck@lemmy.world 22 hours ago
I’d likely be running it with the lid closed 95% of the time
brucethemoose@lemmy.world 22 hours ago
AFAIK that is a problem for some Macs, which need the lid open for ventilation. Check where it exhausts.
I disagree with OP though, display-off laptops are very power efficient and even have a built in UPS.
tux0r@feddit.org 22 hours ago
Yes, especially since they don’t have a display.
poVoq@slrpnk.net 23 hours ago
How? Laptops are especially optimized for low power consumption. if you turn off the screen, that is about as power efficient a server as you can get.
relativestranger@feddit.nl 18 hours ago
i like my laptop ‘server’. low power chip that never throttles up to its max 15w tdp, runs cool with display off and lid closed, needs no kb and mouse attached, and the battery is just a bonus ups. it sits out of the way on a shelf like a book.
tux0r@feddit.org 22 hours ago
“Low power consumption” in absolute numbers is not quite the same thing as “energy efficiency” for a server. Desktop CPUs are more useful for servers and - depending on the architecture - cheaper per W.
poVoq@slrpnk.net 22 hours ago
Under high load conditions maybe, but that is very rare in homelabs and especially for people just starting out like the OP.
brucethemoose@lemmy.world 22 hours ago
Desktop and laptop chips are similar, if not identical silicon, and task energy is objectively lower since the same cores run at lower voltages. They idle lower too, especially on AMD’s side where the laptop chips are monolithic.
The only exception I can think of is like an X3D chip with tasks that love the extra cache, or one of Intel’s exotic “E core” server chips.