smart computer use?

I recently was browsing through thedailygreen.com to see what’s new. There was a short piece about a recent trip to Best Buy to find a new hard drive:

In case you haven’t been there recently, there are MOUNTAINS of computers to choose from. The salesman was going on and on about this model and that when I stopped him short. “What do you have in “green”?” I asked.

For a minute, he looked flummoxed. Then he got a big smile on his face and practically pranced over to the new Dell hybrid.

I was curious to read more about this new Dell Studio Hybrid, mainly since I hadn’t heard of it yet. Plus, it’s touted as a green pc, which has also come to get my attention recently.

What makes the Dell Studio Hybrid green?

According to the Dell web site:

• It’s size makes it green. It is supposedly 80% smaller than a standard desktop. It also comes with 75% less printed documentation by weight when compared to other typical desktops. So, they are putting an emphasis on using less materials overall.
• It’s light power usage makes it green. This computer supposedly uses about 70% less power than a typical desktop. This machine also meets Energy Star® 4.0 standards with an 87% efficient power supply. Good stuff. That is a pretty big difference in energy use.
• It’s recyclable, so that makes it green. I guess the packaging is 95% made from recyclable materials.

I also saw that it comes with a “system-recycling kit, so you can help preserve and protect the environment”. What is that? I had to dig deeper.

I can’t really find exactly what the system recycling kit is, but I found this little tidbit:

When you’re ready to send it back to us for free recycling (or recycling your existing computer), you can do so using a system-recycling kit that comes with the system.

So, basically it looks like they make it easy for you to send it back to them to take part of the the Dell computer recycling program. I guess that works. They aren’t going to let you assimilate the pieces of the computer with nature or anything like that.