Hi all, I'm looking for a cheap laptop that'll be on 24/7, but mostly
doing nothing. My present kit (a pi4 server) is to be replaced: it uses
about 5W quiescent mains power, and I'd like to replace with similar or
lower power in x86 so I can get more crunch power under freebsd.

I wondered about a Dell Latitude E6440 -- cheap off amazon and runs
linux -- but I can't find anything at all about real-world power
consumption.

I know my cheap Dell I use runs at about 4-6W when idle, so there's
hope. But can anyone offer a figure please -- or suggest a better
alternative?

Thanks.

--
Mike Scott
Harlow, England

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Chris <[email protected]> wrote:

Mike Scott <[email protected]d> wrote:

Hi all, I'm looking for a cheap laptop that'll be on 24/7, but mostly
doing nothing. My present kit (a pi4 server) is to be replaced: it uses about 5W quiescent mains power, and I'd like to replace with similar or lower power in x86 so I can get more crunch power under freebsd.

I don't think there's any x86-64 silicon that can compete with Arm for
power efficiency. Especially not older generations. Low TDP envelopes used
to be around 45W for mobile chips. Maybe 15W for ultra-low (i.e. crippled) chips, iirc.

TDP is the maximum power the chip can take continuously, the OP is concerned with the minimum power. TDP is more related to horsepower and cooling performance. For a light-use server you are concerned with idle power
because that's where most of the electricity goes.

Idle power is often about the other devices on the board as well as the processor. The chipset, peripherals, etc.

I wondered about a Dell Latitude E6440 -- cheap off amazon and runs
linux -- but I can't find anything at all about real-world power consumption.

The screen will be the highest power draw so disabling it or turning it off will reduce consumption below most real world examples where ppl are using
it as a laptop.

Idle power on laptops is difficult because people don't tend to run them
24/7 with the screen off. Typical benchmarks are playing Youtube with the screen at a fixed brightness, where as you say the screen is a big power consumer.

Also there's a battery so it's not as straightforward to measure the power consumption, which means nobody really quotes those numbers.

Plus laptops are often compromised as servers because the cooling assumes they're on a desk with the lid open. If you try to run them with the lid closed the cooling suffers dramatically and they tend to cook the battery.
You really want them open with free air all around - running them on the
side as an 'open book' or upside down as a 'tent' achieves it but is awkward
to store like that. If they overheat the CPU will throttle and lose performance.

I know my cheap Dell I use runs at about 4-6W when idle, so there's
hope. But can anyone offer a figure please -- or suggest a better alternative?

Do you actually need a laptop, or would a mini PC do? They're designed to
run 24/7 and with proper cooling.

I can't really speak for laptops as such, but for mini PCs look at the Intel 8th gen series or later. The tiny/mini/micro series of corporate desktops: https://www.servethehome.com/introducing-project-tinyminimicro-home-lab-revolution/
(that site has many more articles on the topic)

tend to use chips which are good for idle power. It is possible some of
those directly translate to the laptop versions of those chips, but nobody
is really measuring that.

Also good an idle power are the Intel N-series - N100, N150 etc. They're somewhat better than Raspberry Pi level of performance but for slightly more idle power. Some ultra-cheap laptops use these, but probably with a compromised cooling solution so again mini PCs are a better option.

Also laptops tend to have more weird hardware that might not play nicely
with FreeBSD. eg wifi might not work, while a mini PC will have ethernet.

Theo

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On 21/06/2025 11:29, Theo wrote:

Chris <[email protected]> wrote:

Mike Scott <[email protected]d> wrote:

Hi all, I'm looking for a cheap laptop that'll be on 24/7, but mostly
doing nothing. My present kit (a pi4 server) is to be replaced: it uses
about 5W quiescent mains power, and I'd like to replace with similar or
lower power in x86 so I can get more crunch power under freebsd.

I don't think there's any x86-64 silicon that can compete with Arm for
power efficiency. Especially not older generations. Low TDP envelopes used >> to be around 45W for mobile chips. Maybe 15W for ultra-low (i.e. crippled) >> chips, iirc.

TDP is the maximum power the chip can take continuously, the OP is concerned with the minimum power. TDP is more related to horsepower and cooling performance. For a light-use server you are concerned with idle power because that's where most of the electricity goes.

Idle power is often about the other devices on the board as well as the processor. The chipset, peripherals, etc.

I wondered about a Dell Latitude E6440 -- cheap off amazon and runs
linux -- but I can't find anything at all about real-world power
consumption.

The screen will be the highest power draw so disabling it or turning it off >> will reduce consumption below most real world examples where ppl are using >> it as a laptop.

Idle power on laptops is difficult because people don't tend to run them
24/7 with the screen off. Typical benchmarks are playing Youtube with the screen at a fixed brightness, where as you say the screen is a big power consumer.

Also there's a battery so it's not as straightforward to measure the power consumption, which means nobody really quotes those numbers.

Plus laptops are often compromised as servers because the cooling assumes they're on a desk with the lid open. If you try to run them with the lid closed the cooling suffers dramatically and they tend to cook the battery. You really want them open with free air all around - running them on the
side as an 'open book' or upside down as a 'tent' achieves it but is awkward to store like that. If they overheat the CPU will throttle and lose performance.

I know my cheap Dell I use runs at about 4-6W when idle, so there's
hope. But can anyone offer a figure please -- or suggest a better
alternative?

Do you actually need a laptop, or would a mini PC do? They're designed to run 24/7 and with proper cooling.

.....

Thanks for the comments. I used to have a mini PC - had 4 ethernet
sockets, so a useful router box; When that broke, I ran a spare x86 for
a bit, then switched to rpi.

The mini prices are comparatively high now, and with a desire for a UPS
as well, I thought an old laptop would fit the bill.

I took the plunge and ordered a 2nd-hand Win7 e6440. Quite possibly not
ideal, and certainly old^w ancient. But Dell did offer that with linux,
so there's some hope over h/ware.

As it happens, there's a dedicated cupboard that, I think, would take
the open lappy if necessary. But I could always disconnect the screen if
fbsd won't turn it right off.

Anyway, I'll check the power usage: if it frightens me, I'll find
someone who can use a 14" screen.

Also laptops tend to have more weird hardware that might not play nicely
with FreeBSD. eg wifi might not work, while a mini PC will have ethernet.

Don't really care about wifi - it sits right next to my internet router
so wire is better. When my mini blew up, I just plugged its hd into a
spare laptop, changed a device name or two, and it Just Worked. (Try
that with a windows machine :-) ) But I can't remember about wifi.


I'll try the e6440 and come back with some figures.

Theo

Thanks.


--
Mike Scott
Harlow, England

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On 21/06/2025 15:30, Mike Scott wrote:

On 21/06/2025 11:29, Theo wrote:

Chris <[email protected]> wrote:

Mike Scott <[email protected]d> wrote:

Hi all, I'm looking for a cheap laptop that'll be on 24/7, but mostly
doing nothing. My present kit (a pi4 server) is to be replaced: it uses >>>> about 5W quiescent mains power, and I'd like to replace with similar or >>>> lower power in x86 so I can get more crunch power under freebsd.

....

Also laptops tend to have more weird hardware that might not play nicely
with FreeBSD.  eg wifi might not work, while a mini PC will have
ethernet.

Don't really care about wifi - it sits right next to my internet router
so wire is better. When my mini blew up, I just plugged its hd into a
spare laptop, changed a device name or two, and it Just Worked. (Try
that with a windows machine :-) ) But I can't remember about wifi.

I'll try the e6440 and come back with some figures.

Well, I tried. The laptop arrived - extremely well packed, and not
looking too bad physically. However, it's doa, so back it goes. Can't
even check power usage :-(

I'll use the chance to rethink things.

--
Mike Scott
Harlow, England

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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Mike Scott <[email protected]d> wrote:

On 21/06/2025 15:30, Mike Scott wrote:

I'll try the e6440 and come back with some figures.

Well, I tried. The laptop arrived - extremely well packed, and not
looking too bad physically. However, it's doa, so back it goes. Can't
even check power usage :-(

I'll use the chance to rethink things.

That's disappointing. Can't speak for the price, but that laptop was
Haswell (4th gen), which released in 2013. Haswell had a big bump in power efficiency but I'd probably look for something a bit newer - Skylake (6th
gen, 2016) was a decent performance improvement. Up to 7th gen can't run
Win 11 so there are probably bargains to be had in that area.

I've also heard 8th gen is good for idle power and still fairly cheap. ~2.5 years ago I bought an i5-8250U Dell Vostro laptop for sub-£100 - it was plastic and the TN screen was awful but other than that it was ok..

There's also things like this (Vostro i3 10th gen): https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/116555331172
if the plastics being cracked doesn't bother you (bottom cover should be
easily replaceable but I can't see the extent of the cracking to the
chassis), or a less cracked version where you'd need to upgrade the RAM and storage:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/116585104303

But if you can live without the battery and screen, an 7th-8th gen Lenono / HP /
Dell ex-office PC can be picked up for similar money and would do better as
a server - the 7th gen are particularly affordable: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/177224144909

Theo

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