99% of laptops do not have a cooling solution robust enough to handle a dual core CPU and a proper graphics card going full throttle. I point a fan at my laptop whenever I have to do anything intensive so that it won't throttle back or just shut down.
Maybe the "apartment" in your mom's basement might be too warm to surf n0rp "full throttle"?
NEWSFLASH - not everyone in developing nation is starving and short of food. For some, an alternative power source such as this is appropriate.
I'm sure they will be at least pretty hungry after mining the non-renewable metals required to actually generate the power. The potato is a red herring here. Am I the only one who had a "two potato clock" stinking up his room as a kid? On the plus side, at least people will be able to eat by a romantic LED light.
"Conversion, fastidious Goddess, loves blood better than brick, and feasts most subtly on the human will." -- Virginia Woolf, "Mrs. Dalloway"