SpartanWX
Senior Member
 Offline
Posts: 91
|
 |
« Reply #25 on: May 14, 2010, 12:14:53 AM » |
|
Does the mini computer get hot? I heard after long term working they get hot .
I been wanting to get a mini. I'm using a older Dell desktop xp with monitor off 95 % time.
My Dell Mini 10 is mounted on a shelf built into the underside of an endtable. There's maybe at best 2" of clearance. Not the greatest of ventilation by any means. I've got it set upside down to help it out (that's where the vents in it are, there are no fans). Just checked my uptime and it's sitting at 74 days solid!! I'd say the best the temperature could be is slightly warm. It wouldn't warm your hands up if they were cold. The thing is only pulling 7 Watts. There's just not enough energy in that space to make it hot. |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
WXMoab
|
|
« Reply #26 on: May 14, 2010, 12:23:24 AM » |
|
This one isn't hot at all. My HDD is running 33c right now with 75 ambient. This thing is running much cooler than my Ferrari laptop so I'm happy (HDD runs in the 40's and 50's).
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
Garth Bock
|
|
« Reply #27 on: May 14, 2010, 09:38:24 AM » |
|
I just picked up an Averatek netbook from Officemax (part # 22283146) that is on special. After applying a coupon the price comes out to $193. I had some MaxPerks points that I threw in and ended up paying $163 for a 10.1 netbook with an N450 Atom, 160gb disk and 1gb of ram. I comes with an a/b/g/n card in it which is kind of unusual.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
 Davis VPro2,VWS,WL,VVP,WD,WDL,Cumulus,WV32,VPLive |
|
|
|
Feelgood Ranch
|
|
« Reply #28 on: May 14, 2010, 12:08:31 PM » |
|
I'm using (2) Mini-Itx home built computers using WinXP pro and having no problems. Google "Mini-Itx boards" and there is a bunch of suppliers for all the gear...mbo, power supplies, ram, and cases. Easy to assemble and fun to build....FWIW
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
ncpilot
|
|
« Reply #29 on: May 14, 2010, 02:49:25 PM » |
|
I followed the mini-itx stuff for a while, but once you add a hard drive, power supply, chassis, etc... for not much more a netbook will give you a monitor/keyboard (so you don't have to power up another computer to VNC into the mini-itx) and a built-in UPS of sorts with the battery power--not to mention an OS already installed. Sure *nix is free, but not all the preferred weather related programs will run on *nix... so add the cost of a legal license for Windows too... OTOH, I'll bet most of us power up a second computer at home at some point in the day... Alas, I still haven't tried to use my little Acer netbook as my weather PC...  |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
Marc
Wilmington, NC
"Monkey Junction Weather"
Davis VP2 wireless, WeatherLink
|
|
|
|
Sigdigit
|
|
« Reply #30 on: May 15, 2010, 10:48:35 AM » |
|
NCPilot, I thought you got your Acer to be your weatherserver. Hell, you convinced me to get one! Couldn't be happier. Been running constantly going on two years without a hitch. Glad I went this route instead of a dedicated micro PC, which would have cost more than the Acer. Love using it to surf the web or look at my weather apps while wife watches TV. As far as getting warm, I noticed when ambient temp reaches 75, the area around the fan exhaust port gets a little warm. That's only in summer though.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
WXMoab
|
|
« Reply #31 on: May 15, 2010, 11:31:57 AM » |
|
In the last 24 hours the Acer used only 0.21 kwh! At my current power rate that equals about $0.50/month. The screen was off most of that time. Even when the power goes up some over the summer I'm sure it will still be well under $1.00/month! Sure it will take a few years to pay for itself. I went this rout not only for power savings but also for better reliability. My desktop has a hardware issue right now where it powers off sometimes (also froze once). It will go for weeks at a time or even months and then just shut off. It has shut down twice now since I started serving the weather in Nov. '09 (once when I was gone for the day). I'm suspecting the PSU connection to the MB as it plugs in and out a lot easier than any previous system I have built. Anyway thanks to those of you who suggested the NetBook rout, this is great!  Edit: Just wanted to mention that this Acer Has plenty of power for the job and hasn't been sluggish at all and the CPU load runs about the same as it did on the dual core 5600+ Athlon desktop. This is what I'm running right now: Start Watch Virtual VP VP Live VWS Weather Link |
|
|
|
« Last Edit: May 15, 2010, 12:50:52 PM by WXMoab »
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
ncpilot
|
|
« Reply #32 on: May 15, 2010, 06:51:41 PM » |
|
NCPilot, I thought you got your Acer to be your weatherserver. Hell, you convinced me to get one! ...
Oh well, what do they say "the road to hell is paved with good intentions"?  I've ended up taking it with me on a few trips, but mostly what's keeping me from using it is that my existing wx computer is also a DVR for Hi-def OTA programming, so I just leave it running. However, one of these days I'm going to replace it with some other solution... maybe......  |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
Marc
Wilmington, NC
"Monkey Junction Weather"
Davis VP2 wireless, WeatherLink
|
|
|
|
Sigdigit
|
|
« Reply #33 on: May 17, 2010, 07:12:00 PM » |
|
I have taken the Acer on a few trips and was glad to have it. Pain in the butt though switching my console back over to the desktop weatherlink. Last time it did not "see" the weatherstation. Some weird porting thing.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
