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lastly I have been getting used laptops for the last few years which I think are the best choice.
In principle, this is actually a very good and, above all, cost-effective idea. But aren't the devices significantly higher in terms of power consumption than a Raspberry, for example? At least if the laptop has a dedicated graphics card, that's a few watts that the laptop needs ...
In my country, unfortunately, the energy costs actually play a (rather huge) role in the profitability calculation ...
well if you are 50 cents a kwatt or more and burn 10 watts an hour it is 240 in a day or a kwatt every 4 days. say 100 kwatts in a year.
round up. so that is a $50 a year cost.
my home is 14 cents not 50 cents so I am about 14 a year cost for a rasp pi and maybe 2x that for a laptop or a dell tiny
so 14 vs 28 and the 28 cost unit allow me full pc use.
vs 50 against 100 if you are 50 cent power cost.
I am not sure how much over 50 cents a kwatt you could be.