RSSLenovo intros ultra 'green' Windows and Linux PCs
By Jacqueline Emigh | Published March 26, 2009, 3:01 PM
Outfitted with Intel Turbo Charger technology for more efficient performance during peak periods, Lenovo's new S20 and D20 PCs are also largely made up of recycled materials.
Priced from about $1,070 to $1,550, the PCs come with a choice of Intel Nehalem-based Xeon 5300 and W3500 processors, and between Nvidia Quadro and ATI Firepro graphics.
Customers aren't able to order the workstations pre-loaded with Linux. Yet "a disc with all the drivers is included to assist the customer with installation," a Lenovo spokesperson told Betanews.
Lenovo has released other PCs supporting either Red Hat or Novell SuSE Linux at various points over the years. But Red Hat "is a predominant distributor in the professional workstation space, so Lenovo elected to use them for support on this specific product," the spokesperson said.
About 50% of the materials used in the PCs are recycled, while 30% are made from "post consumer recycled content," in this case consisting of previously used plastic, Betanews was told.
In addition, Lenovo has tested the workstations to achieve GreenGuard certification, meaning that the machines meet the standards for about 2,000 different chemical tests.
The processors appearing in the S20 and D20 are from the same Intel series as those in Apple's newest Mac Pro. Essentially, the Turbo Boost technology used with the chips is designed to dynamically adjust processor frequency up or down, depending on workload factors such as estimated power consumption, processor temperature, and number of active cores.
Lenovo's two new PCs also come with ThinkVantage Technologies, for help with tasks such as data recovery and data migration.
In showing off the new workstations in the Epic Games booth at the Game Developers' Conference in San Francisco, Lenovo is giving away several of the high-end PCs to Phase 3 winners of Epic's "$1 Million Make Something Good Unreal" contest.
The company is also using the PCs to demo Lenovo e-Lounge, a new virtual e-commerce platform, built on Epic's Unreal Engine, that lets users create avatars for interacting online with Lenovo salespeople.
I'm not sure what to make of the handle on the top. I do wonder about any possible lead content in the paint and wether or not this thing is made in China. Now, I too am sick of hearing "green" this and "green" that. The only way to be "green" AND be intellectually honest is to die and let the dead carcass push up daisies. Nothing less will prove to be friendly for the environment. It's time people face the undeniable fact that as long as you are alive, you will use energy and have something of a negative impact on the planet. Unless you consider the idea that humans living on the planet keep certain things in balance. But many people think that humans were never meant to be here in the first place and represent nothing but harmful elements to mother earth. In which case, ultimately...the only correct thing to do is die. Personally, I'm sick and tired of hearing about this.
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|I am all for being responsible, recycling and using less energy, but I am so sick of hearing the word "GREEN" that I want to puke. Enough is enough.
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|Amen!
You might think that using 'green' principles would be a prudent prerequisite to the entire conversation and that the focus would again remain upon the performance relative to cost relative to the fundamental purpose of having access to the technology.
One might wonder why 'green' would take precedence over performance/cost issues...and if it does, one might wonder why they are buying the technology at all...
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