Sustainability
Everywhere we could we have tried to find the most sustainable solution.
As a start we teamed up with ecological designer Jan van Tiggelen and developed a casing made from birch plywood that is certified by the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council). The design follows the concept of Cradle to Cradle which is becoming increasingly popular. In this concept the end of a product's life cycle is taken into account in the design. This means the wooden casing consists of two halves that can be slided open, making it easy to replace existing components for instance. We have used a minimum of screws so that wood, metal and hardware can be separated in mere minutes.
The wood is painted on the outside with a transparent wood oil (100% nature friendly), and on the inside an environmentally friendly graphite paint is used for electromagnetic shielding. To mount and muffle components we have used a small amount of aluminum and rubber made from recycled car tires.
All the hardware meets the RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) directive of the European Union. One of the aims of this project is to enter into dialogue with hardware manufacturers and thus try to make hardware components cleaner and their production more sustainable.
Power Consumption
We have a lot of experience with building low power computers. It's no wonder the Step2 contains the most efficient, high-quality/longer-lasting components. The operating system is also set up optimally for low power consumption.
When idling or during light tasks the Step2
consumes around 25 watts. Under load, when
maximum performance is required, our system hardly exceeds 50 watts.
The difference with other
computer systems easily amounts to 25-150 watts. In addition, a low power
PC gets less hot and thus more quiet. For most of the time the Step2 can't even be heard!
Minimum power consumption (idle): 25 watts
Maximum power consumption (load): 55 watts
The
system comes with a special Master/Slave power strip which shuts off
all power to peripherals when the computer is turned off or goes into
standby. This elimination of parasitic loads accounts for a minimum
yearly saving of 75 kWh, or 15 euro and 50 kg of CO2. The optional 17" and 19" TFT monitors belong to the most power efficient monitors
currently available.
Specifications
- Casing:
29 cm x 29 cm x 14,5 cm
- Motherboard:
Gigabyte GA-M68SM-S2
- Processor: AMD
Sempron LE-1100
- Hard Disk: 80 GB,
2.5"
- RAM: 1024
MB
- DVD-rewriter: NEC
AD-7633
- Operating System: Windows
XP
- Power Strip: Master/Slave
Total price: €
1099,00
19% BTW, OS installation, shipping costs
and 2
year guarantee on the basis of carry-in included
Optional:
- Monitor:
Samsung SyncMaster TFT 17/19 inch
- Keyboard and Mouse: Logitech UltraX
- Loudspeakers: Logitech
Speakerset S120 2.0
Delivery
To facilitate our partners' production process we work with monthly batch orders. This means we save up orders during one month and deliver our PCs around the middle of the following month. If for instance you order a Step2 in July, you'll receive it in mid-August.
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