Best solution for a good laptop and 27" monitor for off-grid use?

RdTrip2Europa

Honorable
Sep 29, 2013
2
0
10,510
Greetings all,

I am in the market for a new laptop and 27" monitor for use at my cabin that is off-grid. Consequently, I want to explore a 27" monitor that has a fairly low power consumption. The laptop will also go back and forth and be used at "main home" with a HP 23" monitor I have. Any ideas on what would be a good solution?

My initial considerations in a monitor is always HIGH resolution. I was hoping to get a 27" with 2560 x 1440, but to get a laptop to churn out that kind of resolution would be sky high, and I'll have to settle at 1920x1080. I've found some decent deals for a Dell 15" i3 that offers 1920x1080 in the high 400-low 500 range, but not partial to that if you guys have a better solution. Thx for taking the time to provide your thoughts!
 

RdTrip2Europa

Honorable
Sep 29, 2013
2
0
10,510
Urrrrrrrrt--scratch that. A quick search on this forum AFTER I posted has led me to a solution that I think would work much better--building a Mini-ITX system that is dialed in for my particular needs. I was drawn to a laptop for the portability, but 95% of the time, I will be using the system at one of the two locations that has a good size monitor, and the other 5%, my tablet or Droid can make do.

My overall computing needs somewhat distilled: I mostly stream video/play DVD's, surf/email, Office/Project, and writing with Word. Don't really do any gaming (okay, not at all) and don't envision doing any kind of video editing.

However, I do still want access to a higher res GPU card (2560x1440) to fully fill and actually utilize a good 27" monitor. I've come across the "ASUS EAH6450 Silent/DI/1GD3(LP) Radeon HD 6450 1GB 64-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready Low Profile Ready Video Card" and due to its slim and fanless architecture, it would seeming to work well in a Mini-ITX system, and I think it would be a good candidate.

Any suggestions? Based on my NOT needing to have a gaming system, perhaps a low wattage Mini-ITX system would work well?