Portmonteau

A buzz has been going around the internet about a new kind of computer scheduled to come out next month: the CherryPal PC, a “Green PC.” It’s the latest addition to the world of “green living.” Their work-in-progress site claims CherryPal to be the first company to create a low energy computer.

The first thing you’d notice is its diminutive appearance. A full PC that’s the size of a book and weighs less than one pound? That’s because most of the components found in a traditional computer weren’t a part of CherryPal’s grand design, which is why this little PC is so lightweight. In-depth detail about the CherryPal PC has been kept secret, though the specs have been released to the public. There have been many different responses to this green PC, some positive, some negative. The general public appeared to be very receptive to the idea of a low energy computer; it’s a part of our daily lives, after all, and the “green living” trend is growing more and more popular nowadays. The negative responses were aimed at the specs. Gigabyte for gigabyte, megahertz for megahertz, the CherryPal PC just didn’t measure up to the latest high end computers, and that’s what people were worried about the most. A 400Mhz processor doesn’t seem like very much in today’s market, and the 256Mb of RAM isn’t much to show off either, but CherryPal has another trick up its sleeve: Cloud Computing. CherryPal will be the first consumer-based computer to use cloud computing to supplement its minimalist hardware design. Most of the data and processing the CherryPal experiences will be run on separate servers located “in the clouds,” reducing computing necessities, and by extension, power consumption. This allows the Green PC to run as quickly and efficiently as the market’s top computers, even on just a 400Mhz processor. And hard drive space? It looks like the CherryPal users will have to store their data on flash drives (it comes with a 4Gb flash drive standard). Will the processors and RAM be upgradeable? We’ll have to wait for more news and information to be released.

The use of cloud computing has been met with quite of a bit of skepticism, especially in regards to data storage and privacy. Are your files safe? How much privacy can you expect if your files and software aren’t on the PC itself? What’s to stop people from downloading illegal files into these servers, and who would be held responsible for illegal information shared through these remote servers? What if the servers crash? What precautions are taken in order to prevent valuable or irreplaceable files from vanishing into the ether? What about cost? How much will the average consumer expect to pay for a green PC? The actual price is still a secret, but CherryPal CEO Max Seybold says it is very affordable and will be under $400. There’s also the question of service. Buying the CherryPal PC is one thing, but what about monthly fees? Cloud Computing requires you to be connected to the internet, so will the purchase of a CherryPal come with internet access standard?

These are only a few questions that demand answers. In the meantime, we’ll just have to wait for a satisfactory response.

As for the “green” aspect of the CherryPal PC, people want to know how much energy will be used to maintain the servers. It has to be green everywhere to be green, right? Stay tuned for more details.