Manufacturing a new laptop or desktop typically emits:
- Laptop: ~200–400 kg CO₂e
- Desktop + monitor: ~400–800 kg CO₂e
-There’s no other way around it. Computers are horrible for the environment.
Very old CPUs (Core 2 Duo, Athlon 64, Pentium 4, etc.) lack modern power‑saving states and are wildly inefficient under load. A Core 2 Duo desktop can easily draw 80–120W idle, 150–200W under load. A modern laptop with an M1/M2 or Ryzen 7x40U draws:
- Idle**:** 2–5W
- Load: 15–25W
If your old machine draws **>**100W average, and you use it 8+ hours/day; a modern 20W laptop can pay back its manufacturing footprint in 2-3 years.
-This isn’t even getting into processing tasks where an older computer may need to be left on longer to complete a job, or where Linux users will use multiple inefficient computers to do the job of one modern computer.
- Old hardware may lack modern sleep states, GPU power management, etc.
- Browsers are the real bottleneck -not the OS
- Security issues on pre‑NX CPUs are real
Windows is far more efficient than Linux on new hardware with better power management and hardware acceleration working OOTB. Modern CPUs are also drastically more efficient.
“You will own nothing and be happy” - Let’s not even look at the materialistic collectors and wasteful people angry over this quote. The hot topics right now are AI, ram, and saving old shitty computers from landfills when people are collecting and wanting to ‘own’ things they don’t benefit from owning.
The AI hate?
Ram shortage? -Everyone that uses a computer is consuming ram and environmental resources and partly to blame. Compare gaming to AI inference. -Gaming runs GPU at 100% the whole time. AI inference; just spikes when used. Gaming is forever in incline of resource usage. AI is becoming more efficient and helping other processes become more efficient. Gaming causes higher GPU prices also. (A classic point the finger moment for some)
When someone uses AI assistance for a post; they’re making that one AI task benefit many. Those who shame people for using AI make people end up using AI for personal use; making it less efficiently used.
Do you have sources to back up these assertions? Personally, I don’t see folks using Linux to keep hardware from the Core 2 era nearly as much as folks using Linux to keep using a PC that they bought new in the past 5-7 years that Microsoft has simply chosen not to support due to a lack of motherboard features. Linux is often more energy efficient than Windows because it has less telemetry and unwanted features waking up the CPU. Linux supports all power save features of modern and past CPUs. Just because AI is getting more efficient over time does not mean that its short-term impact on the PC component supply chain is not real, and hurting important industries.
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