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Samsung shows off USB-powered monitor 
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Samsung has shown off a low-power monitor that draws all the energy it needs via USB.

Unveiled at the SID 2010 conference, the 18.5in monitor is powered entirely by the computer. As it needs as little as 6.3W of power, it doesn't need to be connected directly to the mains. It does require two USB ports, however, and manages that with a split cable.

Samsung managed to cut the power used by improving the panel's transmittance to about 7% and by using LED edge lighting.

Samsung told the Tech-On website that it planned to have the monitors on shelves by 2011. The prototype on display featured a widescreen resolution of 1,366 x 768, brightness level of 250cd/m2, and a contrast ratio of 1000:1.

While the power savings are impressive, a monitor of that size is likely to live on the desktop anyway, where access to standard power connections isn't likely to be a problem.


http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/green_compu ... ed-monitor

Cool in it's own way :D

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Wed Jun 02, 2010 12:27 pm
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Cool, gradually eliminating cables.

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Wed Jun 02, 2010 4:53 pm
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It will only be possible if the screen has a low energy requirement. LED screens are getting very good now. While it might be a desk top power savings might become a very big issue in future. When a plasma TV can use as much as 400W it can become expensive for long periods. Cut that down to 6 or so watts and it could be used in many places. I can see server centres using them as a way to keep total power use down.

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Wed Jun 02, 2010 5:08 pm
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Amnesia there are surely much larger power savings to going after in the data centre (fresh air cooling could be one example) before replacing their tiny numbers of monitors with energy efficient ones? :?

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Wed Jun 02, 2010 6:02 pm
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Nick wrote:
Amnesia there are surely much larger power savings to going after in the data centre (fresh air cooling could be one example) before replacing their tiny numbers of monitors with energy efficient ones? :?


Agreed. I visited the Sun's UK datacenter and there were no screens in it, a handful of people looked after the room from their usual office desks so used regular monitors. Replace those monitors and that's your entire saving.


Wed Jun 02, 2010 6:15 pm
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Nick wrote:
Amnesia there are surely much larger power savings to going after in the data centre (fresh air cooling could be one example) before replacing their tiny numbers of monitors with energy efficient ones? :?

It probably does not even show up on the scale of total energy usage by a data centre, but in comparison to existing monitors they could justify the expense. Overall where they will be used is in call centres where there are hundreds or thousands of low spec screens where they could make a big difference to power used.

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Wed Jun 02, 2010 7:57 pm
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You'd have to be careful what you plugged it in to. The USB 1 and 2 specifications states that only 0.5A should be drawn in high power mode (2.2W), and exceeding this value can blow the regulators. It's a very common fault on laptops which are built to a minimum power spec; iPods used to be the worst offenders for killing them by ignoring the rules.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Serial_Bus#Power

2 x USB 3 provides 2 x 4v x 0.9A = 7.2W and newer standards exist for power-only, but who has that yet?

In the future, not needing a separate power supply for the monitor could make big savings and also make the wiring neater, but please don't try to run one of these off a netbook today!

Actually reminds me of an old Oliveti I have in the garage. The Amber screen ran off a 12V feed in the CGA connector.

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Wed Jun 02, 2010 11:01 pm
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Why would I want to waste two USB ports on that?
It's good that it's power efficient, but it still could be with a normal connection.

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Wed Jun 02, 2010 11:06 pm
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While the lower power consumption is good why can't it use a dedicated cable to draw power and signal from the main box as in previous computers? Again saving on power but without using valuable USB sockets.

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Wed Jun 02, 2010 11:13 pm
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1. Using the computer's PSU saves on additional PSU efficiency wastage. Drawing 10 watts more from the PC PSU probably only increases consumption by around 7 Watts, while a dedicated PSU might use twice that.

2. Not requiring a PSU makes it cheaper and more ecological to produce, and also to dispose of.

3. Fewer plugs is always a good thing.

I've been toying with the idea of running a 12V ring around the house for a similar reason. Mains adapters are not efficient, so by running everything from a single supply there are large savings to be made.

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Wed Jun 02, 2010 11:51 pm
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JJW009 wrote:
I've been toying with the idea of running a 12V ring

That sounds uncomfortable JJ. :D

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Thu Jun 03, 2010 7:17 am
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This is pretty cool.

There is another reason - the weight reduction due to not having to include a transformer and attendant regulators.

Frankly I can see quite a few applications for this

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Thu Jun 03, 2010 7:25 am
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Hang on, I may be being a bit dumb but what about the connector from the GPU to the monitor? Me no see, I presume (although I have no idea) you would still need this for higher powered GPUs?

Mind you the newer ones would only need a HDMI cable which is no bigger than a USB anyways.

If a sparky bod could help me out with this one please. :D

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Thu Jun 03, 2010 8:03 am
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