Question - Affordable Netbook Solar Power Pack

[Kitsune]

Kind of curious, I have a netbook I sometimes instead of my laptop
Drains my cars battery far less if nothing else
Wondering what I would need to power it via solar and how much it would run me?

[General Zod]

About $250 for the typical solar backpack. There's quite a few on the market out there.

http://www.earthtechproducts.com/voltai ... 3_a_7c1010

[energiewende]

At 4W nameplate capacity that won't run the netbook continuously, but it will recharge it over the course of a day. At $230 you'd be better off buying a second battery and charging it from the mains.

[Zaune]

He has a point. Unless you plan on taking your netbook on a week-long camping trip and don't want to pay the extra $40-odd for an electrical hookup you're probably better off getting a high-capacity battery; they're pretty heavy but they'll give you a good seven or eight hours of operation, slightly less if you've got a 3G dongle plugged in.

[Kitsune]

It can be something that folds out that can be used only when stopped f that save cost
Otherwise, to be blunt, you don't get much for your money.

[Sea Skimmer]

Netbook power consumption is very variable, but it can be as high as 40-60 watts. It could also be under 30. You might want to lookup your specific model, and consider if you need to have the screen bright or not. This could have a big impact on how useful solar charging is.

Looking around the internet quickly, it appears you can get a folding solar panel that does 18-24 watts for 100-140 dollars US, but many of them also appear have problems with the internal wires breaking or simply never actually provide rated capacity. Even at that power level you aren't going to be able to keep even with use, let alone recharge, if you are using the computer heavily, and even the max rated power of the solar panel is going to be dependent on having it pointed near directly at the sun, which may be easier said then done depending on where you are and the time of day.

They don't seem that useful even for camping really unless computer use will be very limited, at which point, do you even need it? They'd work out far better for charging a smartphone.