Astronomy on a Netbook

[DarkSky71]

Thinking of getting a netbook as laptop playing up. Does anyone use a Windows 7 Starter edition netbook with any of the following , or should i get a laptop with full windows 7

Phillips SPC900 NC webcam ( just ordered one off ebay coming soon)

Registax ( I think i will need this to stack images from webcam)

Not sure what software needed to create the avi's in the first place (its coming with some software)

I want to be able to do all the above on Windows 7 starter. If not possible i wont bother and jsut use works laptop for now..

[malc-c]

I use an Asus 900A with an upgraded 16gb SSD - Running win7 pro, sharpcap for web cam capturing, WinStars2 planetarium software and Astro Photography Tool for controlling exposures with my dSLR camera.

The Samsung N10 seems to be popular netbook, and while most will handle the capture of images etc, they all (in my opinion) lack the power to do post processing of images be that through DeepSky Stacker or Registax.

IMO if I was looking for a solution I would opt for a small notebook if you are looking for something with some processing clout

[Johnboy2011]

I was using a small Toshiba netbook which didn't have enough creen resolution so I bought a second hand Samsung Q45 which I am very happy with. I run Canon Eos utility,Sharpcap, Registax and Deep Sky Stacker on it and it seems to be fine. It does have a dual core processor, I am only a novice though!

John

[Revs]

To be honest, almost any 1.6Ghz netbook will do the job as long as you have 1Gb of RAM, minimum. The Samsung's are great for astrophotography due to their suberb battery life and build quality. I picked up an A1 recon Samsung N140 and it's spot on.

Just stay away from Stellarium unless you like slideshows I'm currently using Cartes du Ciel, which I'm loving long time.

[EssexGazer]

I Have a Samsung N220plus netbook with 2GB Ram running Windows 7 Starter and love it.

Stellarium - Runs perfect

Sharpcap - Runs perfect

Registax V5 & V6 - Runs perfect

SPC900nc - Perfect - No driver issues

Go for it:)

[Beyond_Vision]

I am using a Dual Core Atom (D510 Processor) with Nvidia Ion graphics Nettop Box for my remotely controlled setup. It runs Starrynight Pro Plus 6, Maxim, Ascom, Eqmod, PHD and Focus Max at the same time with no problems.

Regards

Kevin

[malc-c]

I am using a Dual Core Atom (D510 Processor) with Nvidia Ion graphics Nettop Box for my remotely controlled setup. It runs Starrynight Pro Plus 6, Maxim, Ascom, Eqmod, PHD and Focus Max at the same time with no problems.

Regards

Kevin

Not surprising given the Ion chip handling the graphics... The problem comes form some of the lower speced, or older generation netbooks running the N260 with shared memory for the graphics

[AllanJ]

I have a Samsung N150 - runs webcam (NexImage) with AmCap, Registax, Gimp, Cartes du Ciel,etc.

Allan

[ZEbbEDY]

I'm currently using Cartes du Ciel, which I'm loving long time.

Nice man, runs much nicer on my low mem netbook

[Brent]

I use an Acer A110 with an extra 1 gig of ram (1.5 gig total), a replacement 60 gig HDD, a 10 hour battery and Windows 7.

It runs Sharpcap, wxAstroCapture and Cartes du Ciel without problems.

However, I've never tried to process on it as I know its limitations. I use a quad core for that.

[Brent]

Sorry, double post - phone is playing up.

[Si W]

I have an Acer Aspire One netbook, however i have took a step back and went with XP, just because i have had so many software issue's in the past, Vista was naff, and i dont trust Windows 7 , at the moment i run Meads Autostar suit, envisage, Auto Star IP, ATIK's Artemis Capture, and Dawn, as well as RegStax 6, Stellarium, and i haven't had a single issue with any of them .

[Spikey]

I use an IBM x100 netbook with Windows 7 ultimate as the OS. Never had any issues with dirvers or software that were not easily fixed either by running as the administrator or running in a compatibility mode, Win 7 handles these things very well.

The only thing I don't do is process the images on the netbook because that requires lots of processor and RAM ! I copy captures onto a quad core running Vista 64 bit ultimate edition - never had any problems with that either that I couldn't fix pretty easily.

If you run into any problems just give me a shout and I'll be sure to try and help out !

All the best

[DarkSky71]

Thanks fot the info guys just ordered

Acer Aspire One 721 11.6 inch SD Netbook (AMD Athlon Neo II K145, 2GB, 250 GB, Wifi, Webcam, 6hrs battery life, Windows 7 Home Premium)

[Ransu]

I buy Samsung NS310 netbook for astronomy. So far everything else works fine but can't get Neximage working. I downloaded sp900nc w7 drivers from Philips site, but can't get camera running. File that i downloaded from philips site does seems to include only Vista named drivers. Nothing named to W7..

I will be happy if anyone can help with this issue.

EDIT: problem solved, everything is working now. I have foud Neximage's drivers very tricky to get working. Have done same fight with three computer now and always it takes 1 day.

Last night i tried PHD guiding with neximage and bright star. Netbook is very good for that:)