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[GregYohn]

Hello!

Dell has a new desktop designed using laptop energy usage. On high it uses 45  watts, 23 watts inactive, & 1 watt when sleeping! For $750, you get a 19" monitor and 8"x 4" desktop. It looks attractive, but is not good for 3D graphic gaming. It could save me $50 a year in electricity compared to a regular 300 watt desktop, when not using my XO.

<a href="http://tinypic.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.tinypic.com/sg2tkz.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic">[/url]

www.dell.com/hybrid

[XOIOWA]

This computer would absolutely fly if it wasn't hampered by the bloat that comes along with Vista.

Imagine:  Dell hybrid running Sugar over Ubuntu.  Now -that- would be a great system.

[GregYohn]

Hello,

You can run Linux Ubuntu on it, just like a regular PC.

I just don't know how to do it on any PC

[XOIOWA]

Yeah, I'm the type of person who would immediately install Ubuntu on this machine if I could justify buying one.  But, seriously, I have enough computers around the house that I don't need to buy one of these. 

To do it, all you need to do is get a CD of Ubuntu ( http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download ) put in the CD and let it boot.  From there you can play around with Ubuntu to your hearts' delight, and when you're ready to commit, you just choose the "install ubuntu" icon on the desktop.  It guides you through actually putting it on the hard drive.  It even makes it easy to keep both Windows and Ubuntu if you want to.

[GregYohn]

Hello!

Will it work with Vista?

[XOIOWA]

Note:  I have not tried with Vista myself.  Hopefully someone else can add their experience about it with Vista.

First, I know it's possible to do as I described above if you're wanting Ubuntu only.  Windows (vista or xp) would never boot, since you're booting from the CD.  So, if you chose to, you could overwrite the Windows install completely, and have a 100% Ubuntu computer.

But, if you're asking about keeping Vista and Ubuntu, I have only read that it is possible, I have not done it myself.  I have done it with XP and even Win98, though.

[GregYohn]

Hello!

I might get an Inspiron by Dell. I can get a faster memory, .5 Ghz faster CPU, 50% faster hard drive, & I can upgrade it much easier. The price is over $200 cheaper, so can get 4 yr warranty compared to 1 yr for the Hybrid for still less money.

It is not as small and I expect 250 more watts an hr of electricity. It costs $40 more per yr in electricity based on 20 hrs@week, but the 4 year warranty is the clincher!

[XOIOWA]

That wattage number may be misleading.  Generally, on a desktop PC, the wattage for the power supply indicates the maximum wattage that the supply is capable of producing.  It doesn't indicate how many watts you are using at any given time.  To know your real usage, you would need to have some sort of meter on there to check how much you are 'drawing' from the power supply at any given time. 

So, if you're playing a process intensive game that's pushing your video card to the max, pushing your sound card to the max, spinning and reading your hard drive and your CD drive, and peaking your processor to 100%, and doing maximum throughput on your ethernet connection, all at the same time.... then you might start to get close to that 300 Watts.

On the other hand, if you're just reading your email, you'll be using significantly less power... and if you let it go into standby, you could be drawing very little wattage.

[GregYohn]

Hello!

Thanks! I talked with the Dell rep and I realized they were clueless about the machine. Can you imagine a person making $100 a week knows a lot about a $600 new computer? They farm out the work to the Philippines. They are polite for customer service, but a technical question is not their strength.

They said the hybrid used 65 watts, when the reviewers said it was 45 watts.

[XOIOWA]

Like I said, the wattage depends on what you're doing with the machine.  So, the average wattage would be different depending on how much it is being used.  They could both be right.

[GregYohn]

Hello!

I use my XO to save electricty now, so my desktop will be my alternative choice.