There's no "fixed budget" of energy that is ethically ok to use. The parents point was that these devices are woefully inefficent no matter which way you look at them.
The "best" thing to do would be neither, and is usually to just use the device you have - particularly for low power electronics as the impact of buying a new one is more than the impact of actually running the thing unless you run it 24/7/365
> There's no "fixed budget" of energy that is ethically ok to use.
Not even 0.00001 W? How is it ethical to live in the first place in such case?
> The parents point was that these devices are woefully inefficent no matter which way you look at them.
It's always a trade off, of productivity, enjoyment vs energy efficiency, isn't it?
If I find a setup that allows me to be more productive and enjoy my work more, certainly I would need to balance it with how much potential waste there is in terms of efficiency.
> The "best" thing to do would be neither, and is usually to just use the device you have
That's quite a generic statement. If my device is a budget android phone, do you expect me to keep coding on it, not buying better tools?
There's no "fixed budget" of energy that is ethically ok to use. The parents point was that these devices are woefully inefficent no matter which way you look at them.
The "best" thing to do would be neither, and is usually to just use the device you have - particularly for low power electronics as the impact of buying a new one is more than the impact of actually running the thing unless you run it 24/7/365