Power-Efficient
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Ask Engadget: Best sub-$310 power-efficient HTPC for a caravan?
We know you've got questions, and if you're brave enough to ask the world for answers, here's the outlet to do so. This week's Ask Engadget inquiry is coming to us from Is from Martin, who is looking for a hyper-efficient media streamer for his retro caravan. If you're looking to send in an inquiry of your own, drop us a line at ask [at] engadget [dawt] com. "My partner and I are renovating a small '70s caravan and would like a power-efficient media center/PC purely to watch our library of movies and TV shows. We're in Australia, so getting hold of kit like the Raspberry Pi would be difficult, we're looking for something that's equally power efficient, even up to $300 AUD (around $310 USD). Cheers!"" That's this week's challenge, Engadgeteers -- do you feel up for it? Can you help our southern hemisphere friends find a power-efficient HTPC for under $310 that won't drain a retro-caravan's batteries? Can we help these people turn the temporary home into a rockin' media-streamin' paradise? Hit us up in the comments if you've got some expertise to share.
IE9 is the most energy-efficient modern browser, according to Microsoft's own testing
Of all the battlefields we've witnessed in the browser wars, this one's never really crossed our minds before: energy efficiency. Yes, the power efficiency of a piece of software, not hardware, is being touted by Microsoft as a differentiating feature for its fresh new Internet Explorer 9. It's thrown together the top five most popular browsers and put them through a cycle of benchmarks -- including Microsoft's own FishIE Tank graphics acceleration test, but not the somewhat popular Adobe Flash -- while measuring how much power they use beyond what the underlying Windows 7 system needs to keep itself going. Shockingly, IE9 was the winner each and every time and there's a tenuous conclusion drawn that if you want good battery life, you'll be going with Internet Explorer. Oh well, whether you consider them a good laugh or really valuable buyer's advice, there's plenty more of these power consumption comparisons at the source link below.
VIA says Eden X2 is world's most power-efficient dual-core processor
Following close behind the low-power Nano X2 comes the Eden X2, or what VIA is calling "the world's most power-efficient" fanless dual-core processor. While we've yet to see any official numbers, the original Eden did 500MHz on one watt of power, so we should see similarly thrifty specs here. Aside from that, the unit houses two 64-bit cores in a 21 x 21 millimeter package, is compatible with Windows CE and Linux operating systems, and was built using a 40-nanometer manufacturing process. The Eden X2 made its debut at the World Embedded conference this week, and should make it to the real world by the end of Q2. Full PR after the break.
Philips debuts PowerSensor-equipped Brilliance monitor
Energy-saving monitors are hardly anything new, but Philips has taken things a bit farther than most with its new 22-inch Brilliance LCD, which packs a built-in infrared "PowerSensor" that can detect when someone's sitting in front of it. If it finds that it's been left by its lonesome, it'll dial down the brightness and cut power consumption by 50% -- all of which operates independently from the PC, so there's no compatibility issues to worry about. As a monitor, however, things are a bit less exciting, with it boasting a 1,680 x 1,050 resolution, a 1,000:1 contrast ratio, a 5ms response time, and the usual VGA and DVI inputs. No word on a release 'round here just yet, but it looks like folks in the UK will be able to pick this one up next month for £170, or about $280. [Via Pocket-lint]
