been working on computers since the early 80's as a kid.<br><br>all of these are good suggestions<br><br>i am not enamored with the laptop/notebook format for frequent use but that is my own personal preference. they are very power efficient which is important for us.<br><br>i have an LED LCD which barely draws any power and i use a mini-itx format computer. so for those unfamiliar with that terminology, its basically a tradition box computer but uses a very small motherboard allowing for a very small size. its smaller than a toaster oven.<br><br>i use an intel ivy bridge i5 chip and a dedicated video card. an AMD 7850. i like having the graphics horsepower as i game, use sketchup, take photos and use photo editing software, and watch ALL of my entertainment on it. somethings are dependant upon the CPU, which the i5 handles effortlessly and is pretty efficient. other things depend upon the GPU, the AMD 7850 is equally adept.<br><br>i like having the ability to customize and modify it, as well as the muscle. not everyone needs it of course but i am rarely, if ever, confronted with a performance issue.<br><br>according to my kill-a-watt, the highest amp usage ive seen with this system, both monitor and computer is 1.2. that was either while gaming (oblivion) or watching movies or something.<br><br>while i am currently using mostly AC, i accounted for this usage via inverter when sizing my battery bank and charging methods.<br><br>perhaps i will do a more detailed write up elsewhere if anyone is interested.<br><br>by the way, i use 3 hard drives. one for the OS and programs (250GB), and two for file storage 2TB each for a total of 4TB. switching to an SSD (which is a solid state HD much like flash memory) for the OS and program drive will lower the power consumption even more.<br><br>i do have an IBM laptop that i rescued out of an electronics recycling bin and i do use it on occasion but for every day use, i just like the power of a desktop...laptops make me feel crowded too, and while you can output to a bigger monitor and use separate keyboard and mouse...i still rather have the desktop.<br><br>one recommendation. logitech keyboards and mice with their unifying receiver technology. all you need is one tiny little USB transmitter and all of their equipment with the unifying logo works....so when i do switch to my laptop when im sitting outside, i can still use the mouse and keyboard if i wish as i have a transmitter on the laptop too. (each device you buy comes with one...so i wound up with 3 and keep them permanently attached to whatever computer i have).
