camping laptop I could charge with solar?

[Okjoek]

I wanted to try an experiment for tenting/ camping trips where currently I have my S7 smartphone that I have both a battery bank and a solar/hand crank USB charger that's also a flashlight and radio. I was curious what kind of solar panel and laptop combo would work for the same camping scenarios. Even for home use it would be convenient to have a computer that works off of solar energy. I love the whole off the grid independence from money sort of deal without giving up every piece of technology.

 

• As long as the laptop has 4 cores and a decent integrated graphics for playing something like Minecraft.
• Also preferably a laptop that's as modular as possible and can have RAM, drives and battery replaced easily. 
• Preferably under 500 USD too.

 

For such a device what kind of solar panel kit would I want to get for that? I'll admit I'm not an electrician so I would probably need something with some instructions to figure out how to use such a device.

 

Do you think this plan is viable? I mean those mobile CPUs are only up to ~15-35W TDP and have performance in spitting distance of the desktop equivalents it seems.

[KenjiUmino]

there are portable solar systems for RVs that fold down to the size of a suitcase - they are meant to charge a 12V RV / car battery so all you would need is a 12V "cigarette lighter plug" charger for your laptop and maybe a small car battery. 

[TheNuzziNuzz]

I would look into some nucs, I think there small form factor, and somtimes passive cooling would benefit you. And im sure you could find a way to connect one to a DC ciruit. All vehicles today have them.

[The Sloth]

17 minutes ago, Okjoek said:

Do you think this plan is viable? I mean those mobile CPUs are only up to ~15-35W TDP and have performance in spitting distance of the desktop equivalents it seems.

it might overload the circuit unless you get something with decent quality 

[Okjoek]

2 minutes ago, TheNuzziNuzz said:

I would look into some nucs, I think there small form factor, and somtimes passive cooling would benefit you. And im sure you could find a way to connect one to a DC ciruit. All vehicles today have them.

IDK that actually takes up more space when you include monitor and peripherals and I dunno how I could run it off a battery that charges during the day which isn't a problem in a laptop because the battery is built in.

1 minute ago, nerdslayer1 said:

it might overload the circuit unless you get something with decent quality 

Okay, I'd try to keep that in mind. 

[markr54632]

Are we talking car camping or backpacking?

 

I backpack a lot and have experimented with bringing more, but have settled on bringing my phone, a 20,000 mah pack for anything over 5 days, a camera that runs off of disposable lithium batteries, and a standalone GPS unit just in case.

 

Typically I use Gaia on my phone for gps, but having two GPS units and a map has literally saved my life more than once.

 

There is no tolerable solar solution on the market yet for backpackers. They are heavy, slow, and at best risky to your electronics.

 

Now if you are going to be camping near a car just bring a deep cycle battery and an inverter. You can add a solar battery charger to it if you want, but their worthless.

 

The lenovo 910 series charges via usb c so a good quality battery pack is all you need. Super low power draw and the i7-7500u will play some basic games. But its double your budget for the early 2017 model and triple for the late 2017 model.

 

In your budget maybe a used or refurbished surface pro 3 or 4. Should play basic games and emulators.

 

Both of these would be as heavy as I would go for backpacking, but if you are within an hours walk of a car any laptop would do.

 

If at all possible try to charge a battery pack and charge your electronics off of the pack. The voltage regulating circuitry in most of the solar panels I've tried is horrible.