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lastly I have been getting used laptops for the last few years which I think are the best choice.
In principle, this is actually a very good and, above all, cost-effective idea. But aren't the devices significantly higher in terms of power consumption than a Raspberry, for example? At least if the laptop has a dedicated graphics card, that's a few watts that the laptop needs ...
In my country, unfortunately, the energy costs actually play a (rather huge) role in the profitability calculation ...
well if you are 50 cents a kwatt or more and burn 10 watts an hour it is 240 in a day or a kwatt every 4 days. say 100 kwatts in a year.
round up. so that is a $50 a year cost.
my home is 14 cents not 50 cents so I am about 14 a year cost for a rasp pi and maybe 2x that for a laptop or a dell tiny
so 14 vs 28 and the 28 cost unit allow me full pc use.
vs 50 against 100 if you are 50 cent power cost.
I am not sure how much over 50 cents a kwatt you could be.
found this via google
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/cost-of-electricity-by-countryTop 10 Countries With the Highest Electricity Costs:*
Denmark — 0.538
Germany — 0.530
United Kingdom — 0.479
Austria — 0.471
Italy — 0.470
Belgium — 0.452
Bermuda — 0.395
Spain — 0.373
Cayman Islands — 0.366
Czech Republic — 0.367
So based on that above the laptop could be as much as 107 a year to run. based on a constant 20 watts
and the rasp pi could be as low as 53.80 based on a constant 10 watts.
I am going to hook my laptop to a meter and see what it burns.