Why Apple's Shares Are Still Going Strong

All the hype around Apple must have something to do with the quality of their products, it cannot be clever marketing and cool design alone.

Example: Power Consumption

This weekend I saw some interesting figures in the computer magazine. The new Mac Mini consumes only 11.7 Watts when idle. That is extraordinary! I did not know Desktop computers could be so energy-efficient.

Compare that to another piece of interesting hardware, Tranquil PC’s SQA-5H Home Server. Its concept is great - finally a NAS with a Windows OS, Home Server in this case. It uses Intels energy-efficient Atom CPUs, but nevertheless consumes 36 Watts with one hard disk only when idle.

When looking at those two numbers, the Core 2 Duo-based Mac Mini with less than 12 Watts and the Atom-based Tranquil PC with more than 35 Watts, I understand why Apple’s products are highly valued. It is not enough to have an interesting concept. Many hardware vendors have those. You really have to think things through and pay attention to details. That is what few companies understand.

Note: One might argue that I compare apples to oranges. Very well, read this: A direct rival of the Mac Mini, Acer’s X1700-U3700A needs more than 70 Watts when idle. Green IT certainly still has a long way to go.

AcerAppleGreen ITPower ConsumptionTranquil PC

Comments

Related Posts

Keyboard Shortcuts You'll Never Want to Miss Again

Keyboard Shortcuts You'll Never Want to Miss Again
Keyboard shortcuts are the key to productivity and efficiency. This is true for any machine, any OS and any application. This article lists shortcuts I personally find very helpful and use often. In selecting what to include I focused on shortcuts that might be less well known. Many shortcuts work in other than the described applications in a very similar way. Please do try them out in all your most frequently used applications.
Miscellaneous

Latest Posts

Fast & Silent 5 Watt PC: Minimizing Idle Power Usage

Fast & Silent 5 Watt PC: Minimizing Idle Power Usage
This micro-series explains how to turn the Lenovo ThinkCentre M90t Gen 6 into a smart workstation that consumes only 5 Watts when idle but reaches top Cinebench scores while staying almost imperceptibly silent. In the first post, I showed how to silence the machine by replacing and adding to Lenovo’s CPU cooler. In this second post, I’m listing the exact configuration that achieves the lofty goal of combining minimal idle power consumption with top Cinebench scores.
Hardware

Fast & Silent 5 Watt PC: Lenovo ThinkCentre M90t Modding

Fast & Silent 5 Watt PC: Lenovo ThinkCentre M90t Modding
This micro-series explains how to turn the Lenovo ThinkCentre M90t Gen 6 into a smart workstation that consumes only 5 Watts when idle but reaches top Cinebench scores while staying almost imperceptibly silent. In this first post, I’m showing how to silence the machine by replacing and adding to Lenovo’s CPU cooler. In a second post, I’m listing the exact configuration that achieves the lofty goal of combining minimal idle power consumption with top Cinebench scores.
Hardware