Is the solar panel footprint even enough to power the whole laptop? I haven't done the calculations for it, and I was hoping someone more qualified would join.
In particular, I don't know what the efficiencies are. Also, I was hoping to find an ARM chip on that thing. Intel ATOM was not that power efficient, last I looked.
Solar energy hobbyist here:
Figure:
1000 Watts of pure solar energy per square meter. [1]
20% efficiency from a typical panel [2]
Panel area appears to be roughly 4 x (24cm*36cm) = .35 m^2
so energy received is about 69 Watts.
Conversion loss is hard to say, but it's DC to DC so, I would expect efficiencies of at least 90%, so derate the 69 Watts to 62 Watts.
There aren't any specs on this computer's power consumption, but for what it's worth, typical Apple power supplies come in 60, 85 and 100 Watts, IIRC. So this would be roughly like charging with a small mac power supply... depending on battery size, count on about 1-2 hours of charge.
Caveats: this may be kind of thick, heavy and fragile. Also, during the time interval of 1-2 hours, the sun's position will change quite a bit. Panels work best when they're aimed directly at the sun, so if they can be tilted somehow that would be best. It will also need a way to protect the panels from scratches when folded. Demo picture is fake picture.
That Lenovo phone uses an Atom Z2580 SoC. Anandtech benchmarked a similar Atom SoC, which used around 4 watts in a 3D game [0]. The Atom D2500, in contrast, has a TDP of 10 watts [1].
While you are correct that there are now some types of Atom which are used in phones, the part used in that laptop has a TDP of 10W. I can't find much information on the Atom which is being used on that phone, certainly not to compare them.
In particular, I don't know what the efficiencies are. Also, I was hoping to find an ARM chip on that thing. Intel ATOM was not that power efficient, last I looked.