News SkinnyBytes launches PoE PCs

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2010/08/09/skinnybytes-launches-poe-pcs/1

 

That's a pretty good idea actually!

 

Surely the cost to take a room, and insert multiple plugs sockets, then purchase many normal pc's would be a much cheaper alternative? Plus they wouldn't lose the audio and performance.

However what they've done is still mgihty impressive based on the small power supply.

 

Well if you think of decently-built schools, most of them will have ethernet sockets on every wall anyway. You're probably thinking "well most UK schools are probably housed in 50+ year old buildings". Well, tough luck, init. Hopefully some of those schools are part of those 200+ awaiting remodeling/rebuilding.

 

This idea could work nicely in a low powered NAS

 

that is very impressive! add audio and give it a year or two to mature and drop in price and I'd def purchase several to mount in kitchen/ toilet etc

 

just how much power can be delivered through PoE?

by the specs, it seems over 50w? that a lot for data carrying wires.

 

The IEEE 802.3af-2003 PoE standard (ratified June, 2003) provides up to 15.4 W of DC power (minimum 44 V DC and 350 mA) to each device. Only 12.95 W is assured to be available at the powered device as some power is dissipated in the cable.

The IEEE 802.3at-2009 PoE standard, also known as PoE+ or PoE plus (ratified September 11, 2009), provides up to 25.5 W of power. Some vendors have announced products that claim to comply with the new 802.3at standard and offer up to 51 W of power over a single cable by utilizing all four pairs in the Cat5 cable. Numerous non-standard schemes had been used prior to PoE standardization to provide power over Ethernet cabling.

At 44v that's only a little over 1A per 4 sets of pairs. So 250mA per pair is not a lot at all, really and gets you 50W of power with no problem.

 

I think I may have misunderstood you - did you mean the specs of the PC would be needing over 50W?

If you did mean the PC, I don't think it would need anywhere near that much to be honest. The largest power draw would surely be the screen, and Viewsonic already sell 19" LED screens that only draw 15W, (VX1932wm) - so these smaller screens would surely take less still.

That being the case, and taking capnPedro's figures into account, it does seem something of an oversight not to include at least some form of low powered sound - even if it were just a headphone socket.

Still think it's a great idea in principle though.

 

Surely an ARM CPU would of been better? After all ARm are the most efficient but it may leave you with the problem of making sure software doesn't become to heavy for it but look at the smartphone and ultra portable market. The best example is the ipad which uses something similar to snapdragon perfectly fine.

 

x86 compatibility. They wouldn't sell a single unit to the education or business sectors if Windows* won't run on it.


* And we're not talking about CE here, either. And schools would want Novell NetWare to run out of the box too.

 

...sound takes up that much power?

 

but the question is will it play Crysis? please tell me

 

No.

 

its a good idea but im not convinced of the savings really as you need a backbone POE system ie.e a rather large POE managed switch costing around £300-400 for 24 port and thats using the 802.3af standard not the new which it would require

 

If the LAN network has been alrady implemented, it would be more espensive as it would require new SW wich supports PoE (even tho its not that traumatic).

For new network implementations its more than welcome as it would save a good amount of energy. I think it could be very well used in office eniroments too, if the software used its mostly server-client based even better!!

And its almost obvious there will be new home routers with PoE technology soon enough for this kind of PC's

 

Well,aren't WE all full of OURselves?
When I read this article my 1st thought was that there are a lot of villages in 3rd world countries that are run on only one or two generators that would find this concept extremely appealing!
But, no. All you can think about is if mommy and daddy will stop bitching about all the power you're using playing those damned video-games at all hours.
What a bunch of self-absorbed drooling cretins you all are.

 

Villages in third-world countries with spare generator power and ethernet sockets? Right. Get off your high horse and stop pretending that because you thought of the starving children first, you're the only one here with morals. Some of us prefer practicality and reality, you know?

 

when I first read it, I thought of this:
http://familyguy.wikia.com/wiki/Bono
tried to find a video, but no luck.

 

Just how much would a headphone jack cost in terms of power, surely next to nothing? An ever so slightly dimmer screen would make up any potential shortfall, right?