"What Is A Low Powered Computer? [SOLVED]"

[Jasper]

What are 'we' referring to here?

When I think of 'low powered' to me that means wattage.

[rockedge]

What are 'we' referring to here?

When I think of 'low powered' to me that means wattage.

machines inadequately equipped, with low hardware specifications. Such as small amounts of old RAM memory, like DDR2 around or less than 1 G.
Aging mechanical hard drives under 50 G that are slow (as molasses) compared to newer mechanical HDD's. Single core single thread CPU's that may be non-pae.

Old graphic cards and network devices, like WiFi that can't do anything more than WEP security.

You get the trend here.......low power as in these machines are not going to run recent versions of Chrome or Firefox very well...if at all.......compressing anything in more than gz will over heat the CPU so much one can bake bread on the heat sink.

[wizard]

@Jasper

Yes, you can have "Low Power" in terms of electrical watts required or "Low Power" in terms of the computing resources available. Think most users will associate Low Power with computing resources.

In this case "low power" does refer to computers with low CPU and/or RAM resources. Some common examples might be 32bit or 64bit:
-Pentium 4
-Pentium M
-Celeron M
-AMD single or dual cores
-Early Cloud books
-Early Converted Chromebooks

Generally any computer with 2gb or less ram and/or a CPU with a Passmark v9 score less than 1000 could be considered low power for this topic and could be improved by choosing lower resource distros, browsers , and tweaking configurations.

Thanks
wizard

[mikewalsh]

@Jasper :-

I reckon you're something of an 'outlier', mate. I don't know of too many geeks that take "low-powered' to mean literally 'power' as in terms of wattage; most users will take the meaning to be what Erik's described.

However; technically-speaking - and playing devil's advocate here - you're perhaps right. Maybe "low-resource" would be a more apt description for our use-case here? Or maybe "under-powered" would be even better....?

Yah, strictly speaking, most of today's processors are far more 'low-powered' than older ones ever were. Remember, guys, the Prescott P4s - although with H/T, effectively a dual-core, and of course they were all 64-bit, had SSE3s, etc - consumed huge amounts of 'power'.......typically 130W or more. But that was normal for the foundry processes of the day.

I guess you "pays your money & takes your pick" of suitable expressions. Myself, I'd go with "under-powered", I think.....although at the time, we were all quite happy with the performance, because we didn't know any better!

How do others view this one? Opinions?

Mike.

[Jasper]

Thank you to all especially for the hardware descriptions.

In my mind I associated the term with devices like ThinClients, NUC's and SBC's and tablets.

[wizard]

@mikewalsh

reckon you're something of an 'outlier', mate

Nope, just the "techie" part of his brain kicking in, have the same problem here sometimes.

wizard

[wizard]

@Jasper

Your question was a good one. Suggest you might change the title to "What Is A Low Powered Computer? [SOLVED]" for others who have the same question"

Thanks
wizard

[AmStaff]

One of the computers I have seems to be somewhere in-between 'under-resourced' and 'modern enough.' It's a computer I built in the early 2000's using an AMD Phenom II and 8GB of DDR3 ram. Running Puppy, it's still very fast. Running Debian, it has a little lag. I like the case, and I've been thinking of just getting a "heart transplant," using a newer processor and motherboard and memory and keeping the PSU and fans and other components in place. Oh, and of course, a new SSD.

[mikeslr]

@Jasper

Your question was a good one. Suggest you might change the title to "What Is A Low Powered Computer? [SOLVED]" for others who have the same question"

Thanks
wizard

Rather, I suggest the title "For Older Low Powered Computers" be changed to "For Older Low Resource Computers" which, as Mikewalsh noted "Maybe "low-resource" would be a more apt description for our use-case here?".

[CatMan]

A modern low resource computer would be a Raspberry Pi Zero 2W....

[RSH]

That's the main problem with English for non-native English speakers.
Equal word is used by too many different meanings.
But the most annoying thing is to double the "no" like "I don't want no doctor".
In German this is "doppelte Verneinung" (Ich möchte nicht keinen Arzt) and so this means: "I want a doctor".

[AmStaff]

That's the main problem with English for non-native English speakers.
Equal word is used by too many different meanings.
But the most annoying thing is to double the "no" like "I don't want no doctor".
In German this is "doppelte Verneinung" (Ich möchte nicht keinen Arzt) and so this means: "I want a doctor".

This is incorrect in English as well, but it is often used colloquially. If I were unkind I might say, by the uneducated, but I have in fact used double negatives with a regional accent just to be humorous.

Double negatives are actually normal in Spanish, and French has some weird constructions as well, which I have forgotten, but in proper English, the double negative is as incorrect as it is in German. Perhaps it shows the common roots of our two grammars, via Saxon.

[dellus]

Double negation is common in regional accents in German as well, at least in southern Germany.
@RSH: es würde heißen "ich will keinen Arzt nicht!", bedeutet "bloß keinen Arzt!".
Aber "ich will nicht 'keinen Arzt' " hieße ich will einen.

[wizard]

@RSH
@dellus
@AmStaff

Consider moving the discussion on languages to the Off-Topic Area.

Thanks
wizard

[AmStaff]

How would one say "low resources computer" in German? Would saying it was an "underpowered computer" be too imprecise? Could it be that since we are still discussing languages with these questions they should be in the off-topic area of the forum?Könnte es sein, dass der Zauberer denkt, dass wir das tun sollten?

[Jasper]

Please do not confuse British English with American English.

Even amongst British English members here on the forum. The literacy levels are apparent.

Reading their messages it leaves me wondering if they left school at 16.

American

am enjoying the VoidPup64, a simple screen recorder is not available with VPM, after installing vokoscreen it fails to stay on the recording session, just flips back to opening screen. Anyone been able to run a screen capture app to upload to youtube?

Well done if you got this far

[mikewalsh]

@Jasper :-

I, too, am somewhat "fussy" about usage of our native language. Having had a good education, where correct writing, pronunciation and use of British English was emphasized, what I sometimes read here on the Forum makes me cringe!

It astounds me when I see the way that some of my compatriots mangle our mother tongue...

BUT.....and this is a BIG "but".....you have to remember that this is an international forum, with visitors from all over the world. And for many of these, English is not their first language. And even for those for whom it IS their first language, not all had the benefit of a 'good' education, nor were all of us able to remain in full-time education right to its completion.

You have to make allowances for other people. So long as it's readable.....and I can "get the jist" of a post.....I don't tend to worry too much about it.

Having been online since the early days, through more bulletin boards and fora than I care to remember, I've seen it ALL, believe me. Most of our members are 'Okay' with their posting, so far as I'm concerned.

Mike.