Think you’ve got a green little laptop? Certainly, the portable computer, with its emphasis on small size and battery life, scores well on the eco-friendliness front, especially compared to powerful, power-hungry desktop models.

But a design student’s recent concept creation may have changed all that. Designer Ben Chase sketched out, and then built a 95% functional (I think that means “95% of its functions work”, not “it’s 95% complete”) desktop that runs on a mere 27 watts of power. For comparison, a standard MacBook laptop uses about 60.

While it won’t be winning style awards anytime soon (unless beige and ugly come back into vogue) the machine does have tremendous potential where portability is not an issue, such as computer labs, point-of-sale machines, and corporate workstations.

The design will also make IT departments smile, as it runs Windows and features tool-free part access and removal.