I'm considering looking at how to do this, since it looks doable, but wonder if anyone has any experience of actually doing this, even partially. It's a very similar problem, it seems, to running a TV using solar power when camping, so it's not that strange a scenario. I've come to the conclusion that one way of doing this is as follows:

• Use a cheap/old/low power laptop
• Buy a car battery - or perhaps a 12V 100Ah battery
• Use a 60W solar panel (or similar) to charge the 100Ah battery
• Use a car cigarette light connector based power adapter to connect laptop to battery

The issue there is the 60W solar panel is expensive right now, and I'm wondering if there's a way of reducing this figure down lower - if anyone has experience of doing this. I'm also not sure it's sufficient - I suspect it has to be higher rated than that.

I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who's tried doing this.