I made a few calculations. I hope I did this right.

I am charged about 22 1/2 cents per kWh used. The PowerMac G5 averages about 0.2 kW of power. 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Ideally, I’d like the desktop to be on continuously. This is about $394 a year. The Mac Mini uses about 0.02 kW of power. This equates to about $39.42 a year. A final savings of about $355. That’s not bad. In just two years, I would have paid for my Mac Mini.

To put it another way, I was just talking to a friend who plays WoW. I’m just not really into video games. I have no idea why. Anyways, he said it costs $15 a month to play. I was shocked! That’s like getting 3 DVRs from your cable co, or getting 1/2 an unlimited text messaging for a family plan. So this is where my mindset is coming from. To run my PowerMac, it costs about $33 a month. The Mac Mini would only cost me only $3.25 a month!

I am so cheap!