How my One saved me money.

[Sid]

When working I fly on a regular basis with the budget airlines, I usually pay about £12 per kilo for excess baggage.
Typically I carry two laptops, a real one (Apple) and a Windoze Dull (Dell) lugtop, these both go in my carry on (weight restricted).
So all the heavy stuff gets checked, and I am always 2-3 kilos over. = £24 - £36.

Enter the One, it is at least two kilos lighter, add all the psu and other junk and the difference is closing on three kilos = £36

I reshuffle my payload between the bags and voila, no excess charges.
Since I have owned the One, my savings on eight flights are IRO £192 - £288
So the One has pretty much paid for itself, and now (without trying) I am saving for the Wimax / 3G version

What a bargain !

Larger battery is mandatory for me.

 

[Darren198712]

thats not bad it paied itself.

 

[Sid]

The good news is that I can actually use the One on a flight, but the Dull won't fit on the tray table (not on budget flights anyway).

 

[ke35ch]

I also saving money on my energy bills because now I using it instead of my desktop computer. And with high prices these days I glad I got a netbook

 

[Sid]

Hmm, energy bills, I had not thought of that as an angle.
Anyone like to provide a running cost comparison between a desktop and a One?

 

[osdude]

my desktop 430 watts (includes monitor)
my AOA110 30 watts

These are based on specs and not actual usage

 

[Sid]

Ah, so only about one fourteenth of the theoretical consumption of a desktop, no big difference there then

 

[rjm]

my desktop 430 watts (includes monitor)
my AOA110 30 watts

These are based on specs and not actual usage

The AA1 is drawing about 10W idle, perhaps twice that under heavy graphics load, while a typical middle of the road desktop will be perhaps 150W at idle, including the monitor, peaking at 250W. Throw in a couple of high end gaming graphics cards and those values double.

Any laptop is far, far more energy efficient than a regular desktop. Curious to me is why the Atom-based Aspire one is still drawing around 10-12W (calculated from 2.5h battery life from a 24W 3-cell battery). For comparison, my old X31 Thinkpad (1.3Ghz Pentium M) was about 8W at idle, my core duo T61 is about 14W.

 

[osdude]

I think that's with the charger plugged in for the 30w

don't know for sure

 

[Raido]

The 'powersucking' component in the AOne is not the Atom, but the much older accompanying (gfx) chipset - afaik that draws at least 3 times as much.


Don't think my desktop (Mac Mini Core Duo) draws much more than the One though, maybe even less (about 28 Watts). One guy calculated this through and changing his old 160 Watts P4 3,4 Ghz pc to this compact little performer saved him nearly $500 per year in energy costs. :geek: Not to mention his reduction in environmental impact.

 

[Sunrise]

I think that's with the charger plugged in for the 30w

don't know for sure

of course! why do you think our mobile toys charge faster when they're off?
I think it's something like 20w for use + 10w for battery charging...

 

[impreziv]

wow is power really that expensive for you guys in the UK?

i leave my 2 desktop computers running all day (dont remember when i last turned either one off). and my total power bill is never more than $25 per month.

what type of power do u guys use in the UK? we use Hydro-electric power here in Manitoba.

 

[Sid]

"What type of power", over here we call it "expensive"

 

[ddalley]

Someone needs to make a solar powered, reasonably large battery HOW TO project for the One.

 

[Sid]

Ahhhhh

No idea on price yet......

https://powertraveller.com/iwantsome/ar ... argorilla/

 

[ddalley]

Nice, looks expensive for 5,500 mAh in 19V mode.
From what I can gather, solar is an add-on.

Thanks for the lead.

 

[billr]

Hi

Another power sucking beast in the home, is the TV you might have energy efficient plasma screens but I still got the cathode tube type - so instead of watching TV my AA1 is providing the entertainment....just orderd a USB TV tuner so when that arrives the TV will remain swtched off...

As to UK energy cost it is calculated that the average bill will be in the region of £1250 pa
that's $2400 approx...and the elec/gas companies plan to increase charges further.....

 

[rz3300]

Well it always makes me happy to hear that people found a good bargain out there. I do not have any experience with the One but it sounds like a good option, especially for anyone who likes a good deal. I will have to keep it in mind.

 

[Karen Gordon]

It is always great when you can save money, and the fact you were able to do so, by using a lighter weight laptop is a great thing. I like the Lenovo Thinkpad I have because it is small and lightweight but the fact that it it needs a battery is the only issue I have with it at this time. It is a good device, and small.