[Cube] How to make the Cube a multimedia server

[Don Zahniser]

On Mar 20, 2009, at 11:35 AM, Stefan wrote:

> Besides that I think world climate change is reality and everyone  
> should try to participate in preventing it. To drive a 250 Watt  
> machine just for fun is un-ethically in my eyes (please read in  
> "my" eyes!),

Which leads to a question:

My Cube spends most of its time 'idle', acting as a print server for  
my family, and to store backups of important information from my  
Pismo, which I use for most mundane tasks.  I have an Apple Studio  
Display 17" CRT monitor hooked up to the Cube, and have the Energy  
Saver preferences set to put the monitor to sleep when the computer  
is not actively in use.  While it is asleep, the monitor is quite  
cold to the touch at the head vents, indicating little power usage.   
My son has a Power Mac G4 (Sawthooth?) with a VGA monitor that is  
currently turned off most of the time because he is away at university.

Would there be significant energy savings by swapping the VGA display  
to the Cube instead of the Studio Display, and turning the VGA  
monitor off when not in use (keeping in mind probable 'vampire' power  
consumption of a monitor that is 'off' but still drawing some power  
to allow for fast start-up)?

I am also considering the reduced wear and tear on my Cube's power  
supply that would entail from not using an ADC monitor...

Thanks!

  - Don

-- 
Don Zahniser