Hoolie
Well-known member
It seems to me, given your limited power resources, you should be considering a more modest solution to your needs!
Running a mini PC from a power bank
- Thread starter webcraft
- Start date
webcraft
Well-known member
I have 250W of solar and spend at least a couple of months in total plugged into shore power, so I am really not anticipating any problem. I certainly manage OK with the Thinkpad at the moment, but it is not Win11 compatible so will shortly be toast. It has a 4400mah battery. The Renogy power bank is 222Wh, but I have no idea how that compares.
At the moment I lug the laptop back and forward and use my desktop at home. The Geekcom will be lighter to carry and will replace both devices, which saves file transfers each time. (Yes, I know I should keep files on a cloud server but I don't . . . )
All I really want to know is, how long will I be able to run a Geekcom IT12 or A8 from the Renogy power bank, which I will essentially be using as the equivalent of the laptop battery. If I need a bigger power bank and have to buy more solar to charge it so be it. As I run a web design business your suggestions of modesty are not entirely sensible.
Hopefully Geekcom will get back to me with a quantitative answer.
GHA
Well-known member
Google drive might be worth a look, looks like a separate drive or point it to various folders. Then forget about it, you won't know it's there, just keeps your files updated when there's web access. 16Gb free with each email account or 200Gb for 2-.50 a month.
Refueler
Well-known member
Asking how long a PC of whatever type will run on a power source is "How long is a piece of string" ...
Add an external drive ... storage ... etc and the power consumption can dramatically change ...
Add an external drive ... storage ... etc and the power consumption can dramatically change ...
webcraft
Well-known member
The PC will not require external storage, just kb, monitor and mouse
j3tpropelled
New member
The figures being quoted i.e. the AMD processor 45w, and the power supply numbers are absolute maximum numbers. In practice it won't be drawing anywhere near those numbers under most normal usage. Actual power consumption will go up and down based on how hard the machine is working, if you're only using it for things like email, web browsing etc. then it will hardly rise above idle power. Chances are the monitor you connect it to will be using more power than the machine itself.
Hunterlees
Active member
Have you considered that there are ways of installing win11 on laptops which are “not compatible” ? Plenty of information online if you search.
webcraft
Well-known member
Thankyou. This seems more realistic. My own suspicion is that the Renogy power supply will run the PC for many hours on a charge.
webcraft
Well-known member
I already know this. However, simplicity and a degree of future-proofness are more important to me now than saving a bit of money.
Refueler
Well-known member
Good .. as they really do make a difference ...
Its always advisable in such situations - IF you do want additional gear connected - to get such that can have external power to them - instead of taking from the computer.
Refueler
Well-known member
Can I ask why you want W11 ?? I have 4 computers on the go at any one time ... only one is W11 and the others on W10 truck along just the same ... TBH - I only know its W11 when I get system menu or Home screen ..
I must add though - I refuse to be coerced into 365. This makes a huge difference.
What really brought it home was during an offshore job ... we had swapped out the on-board computer for the Superintendeent from a Office standalone full package .. to a 365 installed machine.
All fine for a few days and then 365 needed to connect to internet to download another part of package .. connection was very poor and machine basically failed ... we had to resort to back up of my travel Acer ONE till we could connect better and get 365 back up again.
Its the age old thing : Don't Fix what aint Broke !!
I must add though - I refuse to be coerced into 365. This makes a huge difference.
What really brought it home was during an offshore job ... we had swapped out the on-board computer for the Superintendeent from a Office standalone full package .. to a 365 installed machine.
All fine for a few days and then 365 needed to connect to internet to download another part of package .. connection was very poor and machine basically failed ... we had to resort to back up of my travel Acer ONE till we could connect better and get 365 back up again.
Its the age old thing : Don't Fix what aint Broke !!
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j3tpropelled
New member
222Wh @ 12v = 18,500mah.
So over 4 x the internal battery of the laptop you refer to.
j3tpropelled
New member
A quick bit of digging online found this:
GEEKOM Mini IT12 power consumption
We measured power consumption with a wall power meter:- Power off – 0.8 Watt
- Booting – 8 to 24 Watts
- Idle – 8 – 10 Watts
- Web browsing – 8 to 21 Watts
- 3DMark – 13 – 24 Watts (Fire Strike)
- Video playback – 12 – 24 Watts (Youtube 8K 60 fps in Chrome)
So, the Renogy you refer to would likely power it for around 10 hours minimum assuming the Mini PC was in constant use. Of course you would need to take into account power consumption of the monitor. A typical consumption for an LCD monitor might be between 15 and 30 watts for a small screen, larger screens will use much more. So as mentioned, the monitor is likely to consume more power than the Mini PC itself.
lustyd
Well-known member
The Pi5 is much better for this, and has a proper GPU on board. It's quite usable for most tasks as a desktop but I wouldn't try video editing or anything heavy
wonkywinch
Well-known member
Try an online calculator if you're not familiar with wiggly amps etc.
Watts/Volts/Amps/Ohms Calculator
wonkywinch
Well-known member
Duplicated in error
lustyd
Well-known member
This is your lack of IT skills, not a problem with Office 365. The installer for O365 is identical to the installer for the other version, and both have JIT feature installs which you can force ahead of time if you so choose. The main difference between the two, is that O365 can be installed legally on multiple devices for the same user which is very useful for people with multiple laptops, desktops and mobile devices. It also comes with OneDrive so your documents are available across all of those devices if you so choose.
wonkywinch
Well-known member
Anyone looking for cheap (legit) copies of Office 365, I can recommend this outfit.
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lustyd
Well-known member
That's not a legitimate source, I suggest you remove it.
wonkywinch
Well-known member
It absolutely is legitimate. They operate by purchasing huge quantities of genuine licenses and selling them piecemeal.
They've been in business since 2009 so I would have thought Microsoft etc would have closed them down by now if they weren't kosher. More info on their home page ..
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