Re: Followed by....
I do find the idea of saving serious power by running Linux on ARM instead of Linux on Intel very appealing though.
Are you aware just how few watts you need to run an Intel system these days? If you don't want huge number-crunch power, build a system with no moving parts out of a Celeron J1800 Mobo (such as Gigabyte GA-J1800N-D2H), an Akasa Crypto case (tiny, don't connect the fan!), 8Gb RAM and an SSD. Passive-cooled, completely silent and mine doesn't even get seriously warm. If you do need huge CPU power on request, intel's Generation-4 core CPUs are good at not using watts when idle, provided your OS, drivers and applications play nice. (ie all event-driven, no polling loops).
Yes, at the really low power end ARM is better. I've used a Rasberry Pi as a "thin client" just to see what it felt like. (A bit too sluggish for my tastes, though not unusable).
Nevertheless what's eating the power is your display rather than your state-of-the-art Intel CPU.
PS Why do I have to build my own silent desktop PCs with no moving parts? It's a sign of lack of imagination, that nobody like Dell is selling such systems, to replace ancient, loudly whirring "classic" desktop systems that are still out there in vast numbers.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
