Gizmodo: green pc

Dell Introduces Their Smallest, Greenest PC Yet

Jason Chen — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 16:01:09 EDT

Michael Dell, the king of Dell, just previewed his company's smallest and greenest desktop PC yet at FORTUNE Brainstorm: GREEN. There's no name for this mini green PC, shown rendered above, but it's 81% smaller than a mini tower and 70% less energy-consuming. It's also shipped in recycled and recyclable packaging, and look a whole lot like those cheapo Sun workstations that colleges love(d) to use. As long as this machine is at least as powerful as a laptop (we don't mean an Eee PC), we're all for Dell's enviro-conscious direction.

HP Goes Green with Energy-saving rp5700

Louis Ramirez — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 17:44:19 EDT

HP's trying to make it a little easier to go green with the introduction of its new rp5700. The tree-hugging PC is 95% recyclable, and according to HP it uses 80% less energy than a standard desktop. So what kind of corners had to be cut? Not many. You can configure the rp5700 with a variety of Intel CPUs including a 2.13GHz Core 2 Duo CPU.

You can also add up to 4GB of RAM, a LightScribe optical drive, and SATA-based hard drives. Now if only we could do something about its looks. The rp5700 is available today with a starting price of $648. – Louis Ramirez

Press Release

enano e2 is Like a Greener, Pricier Mac Mini

Louis Ramirez — Wed, 16 May 2007 14:45:31 EDT

Green PCs don't come very often, so it's no surprise enano's new e2 caught our eye. Enano claims their new Ecossential PCs are 95% quieter, 80% more energy efficient, and 65% cooler than your typical desktop.

That doesn't mean they're wimpy, though. The e2s can still run with the big dogs, packing up to 4GB of RAM, a TV tuner and built-in wireless. If you want something with a little more oomph (meaning something with one of the new Core 2 Duo chips) you're better off waiting for this bad boy. Otherwise, treehuggers can start lining up for the e2s now. Just don't forget your plastic. They range from $1,100 to $1,800. – Louis Ramirez

Product Page

Zonbu to Roll Out $99 Linux-Based Computer This Summer

Charlie White — Mon, 07 May 2007 09:51:33 EDT

There's a cheap computer on the way that undercuts them all, the $99 Zonbu, due this summer in a silent-running form factor that's about the size of a paperback book. It has 4GB of flash memory on board, and automatically backs up a copy of your data online. Besides that $99 purchase price, you'll also pay $12.95 a month (for 25GB,scales up to 100GB for more money) to store its data on the Zonbu servers, giving you the ability to compute anywhere with this tiny device, or access your data from other PCs. If you don't commit to a service plan, the little PC costs $250.

Of course, you'll have to buy a keyboard, monitor and mouse for this diminutive computer, and you'll need a broadband Internet connection, too, but the company says its little Gentoo Linux-based mini PC has all of the applications most people ever need already preloaded. This sounds intriguing, but what applications are included, and can you actually get any work done with it?

Among the fanless Zonbu's 23 open-source Linux-based applications are Firefox, OpenOffice, which is an office suite compatible with Microsoft Office with a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation software and more, and there's also a video player and a place to upload your photos.

They've also loaded up an iTunes-like music and movie playing application, Skype, email, and instant messaging software. On the company's password-protected website that's not yet open to the public, there's a video demo that shows the system in operation, and it has a close resemblance to Windows Vista, so much so that it might raise the eyebrow of a legal eagle here and there.

The founders of Zonbu, CEO Grégoire Gentil and Chairman (and also Vudu video-downloading box creator) Alain Rossmann's main selling points are that low price, its Internet connectedness, and the 15-watt energy-efficient design they say will save $10 per month on energy bills that would eliminate most of that $12.95 monthly charge for the automatic backup and software update service.

We can't wait to get our hands on this baby and see if it can actually deliver a usable computing experience. That $99 price for a fully functioning computer with what the company calls $2000 worth of preinstalled applications has our undivided attention thus far. – Charlie White

Product Page [Zonbu]