Top Five Green Laptops

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Are you looking for a “green” laptop? Well, you’re in luck. As with other companies, computer companies are getting into the act of producing “green” or environmental-friendly products. In this article, I'll explain the standards a laptop must meet to earn the right to be called "green," and review five machines that meet this standard and perform at least as well as their non-green cousins.Computer companies want to do their part to ensure their computers are not emitting harmful chemicals into the atmosphere. Companies such as Dell and Toshiba are making notebooks that are not only Energy Star-compliant, but that also comply withEPEAT's rigorous standards.  

EPEAT, which stands for Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool, is a measuring yardstick for green electronic devices. The Green Electronics Council created EPEAT. The tool ranks electronic devices, including computers, based on defined environmental criteria. These requirements fall into eight categories, including end-of-life design, materials selection, product longevity/lifecycle extension, end-of-life management, packaging and corporate performance, and reduction or elimination of environmentally sensitive materials.

Depending on how the devices meet these requirements, the council gives them a rating. These ratings include Gold, Silver, and Bronze. Keep in mind, the product must fulfill all of the criteria in order for them to be EPEAT registered. If a product receives a Gold rating, this means that it complies with all of the required standards, in addition to 75% of the optional criteria that apply to the product that's being enlisted. Silver means that the product fulfills all of the required standards, in addition to at least 50% of the optional criteria that apply to the product that's being enlisted. Bronze means that the product fulfills all of the standards.

Using EPEAT, the Green Electronics Council thinks that computers that register with EPEAT can help cut down on more than 13 million pounds of toxic waste and more than 3 million pounds of non-hazardous materials. Here, you'll read about five laptops that are EPEAT-registered. Though they're green products, don't underestimate them. These laptops include some cutting-edge technologies and can be just as powerful as "non-green" laptops.

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