How green is your computing; does green mean low power

So, this has been something I have thought about for a long time; and especially more so now with rising energy costs.

A few years ago or so I remember watching an episode of The Dragons Den  ( I won't explain program to those that know, best to go and look up but consists of people trying to get money) on which a guy/company came to the den trying to get funding for his brand of green PC computers.

These days doing a search for green pc will bring you back many pages in your search and there are indeed many solutions out there - many seeming to run things like Intel Atom processors.

Now, the second reason I was thinking green was because of my purchase of the Mac Mini as on the Apple website it has the following; and I quote;


"Mac mini is the world’s most energy-efficient desktop computer. It’s also highly recyclable and has a tiny package for efficient shipping. All in all, that’s no small thing."

This seems like a bit of a statement from what my investigation has seen but could be true? But what I can say is this; that the Mac Mini is certainly far superior in computing power compared to the other green computers I have seen.

If this statement is trye it means that green computing doesn't have to mean lower computing power as I have first hand experience in the speed and power of the new Mac Mini (I'm very impressed with me 2.5Ghz i5 Mac Mini) but have to say that I have no experience of one of these others.

Infact, I am still waiting on my chance to be able to buy a Raspberry Pi. This I believe would certainly be very low in power consumption; although this I would need to validate when I had one. But again I don't believe this would have the same level of computing power.

So; moral is. If looking for green computing then check out Apple Mini's. If looking for sheer power; well green would not be a thought...

Anyone have any experience in a green PC? Leave a comment.