Laptop for image processing?

[rfdesigner]

Hi all

I've been concidering a new computer.

A laptop, but with good performance for astro image processing. The purchase of a laptop, imaging wise, is putting the cart before the horse as the large format camera won't turn up until next year. But other curcumstances are pushing a computer purchase forward.

Currently I use a Lenovo SL510.. and frankly it's not terribly good.. partly OS and partly the hardware.

Main complaints:

Base quality not as good as my previous dell: bits have broken

OS not ready when sold: M$W7, only just got SP1, so I'd only regard it as stable(ish) as of this week.

Relearn OS GUI... again... what a waste of effort.

Non Standard Keyboard: keys in wrong place so took ages to touch type again... and now I can't touch type other keyboards.

Screen resolution: Widescreen = thinscreen: 768 vertical pixels are just not enough.

so...

An Astro image processing laptop.

As I see it I will need a machine that

A: can cope with a good >4Mpixel screen plugged in (I've seen one for ~£800 that seems pretty good.. maybe next year they'll be £400:rolleyes:

B: can do the maths i.e. deconvolution on 8Mpixel image in a usable timescale and has disks with fast enough access times so when I'm imaging and saving vast quantities of data I don't get limited by a slow disk, don't care about disk size, that's what USB sticks were made for!

C: as cheap as reasonably possible concidering above specs.. don't care so much about the screen resolution on the laptop itself, just so long as it's got more than 800 pixels vertically.

D: sufficiently reliable remembering that pretty much all the laptops made in the world are built in one factory in the far east. I don't want to have to replace it inside at least 5 years.

E: An OS that will work with the imaging software and is stable reliable configurable etc. etc. ..... Ubuntu perhaps?

F: Image processing programmes: so far I use IRIS, but I've been looking at PixInsight and will use something around this level.. this demands 6Gbyte of ram... it's also Ubuntu compatible

So any suggestions?

Derek

[david o]

I think Dell are the only major manufacturer shipping Ubuntu.

Anything else, it's almost certain that you'll end up paying the Windows tax.

[ollypenrice]

I think pretty ordinary machines will do the work but you have not mentioned the most important thing, a really good screen. I never process on laptops for this reason.

Olly

[iwatkins]

Question, do you have to do your image processing on a laptop? I.e. can you not do the capture on a cheap laptop and do all the processing on a powerful desktop?

Truly powerful laptops (RAM, processor, and disks) are super expensive whereas an equivalent desktop and monitor can be half the price leaving you cash for a cheap "field" laptop for capture. Just as idea.

----

For garden based astrophotography that I do (DSLR and wide angle lens, no scope) I use a cheap (well they are now) Samsung NC10 netbook attached to the camera via USB. However, the captures are stored on the netbook and are also sent via Wifi to my desktop PC which is a great big hulking Dell Precision workstation. If the Wifi link goes I've still got the shots on my netbook but normally I just go to work on the desktop copies without the need to copy images over.

A friend of mine does the same but doesn't bother with the netbook, he just uses an Eye-Fi card in his camera (basically a Wifi transmitter) with files sent straight to his desktop. Obviously only any good if you are using a DSLR rather than a CCD camera.

Rambling now, I'll shut up.

Cheers

Ian

[ollypenrice]

No, don't shut up Ian, that is probably what most imagers do! In fact, since copying lots of TIFFS is a long job I often stack and calibrate on even a netbook. It seems quite able to do it. Then I export the stacked images to the big machine. Some tasks are easier with a big screen so I may vary the point at which I transfer, but a big high res screen is a bit of a must in my book.

Olly

[iwatkins]

Olly, I'm not barking up the wrong tree then

Also agree with you about a quality screen. I've spent many years doing image analysis (for work) and also doing semi-professional product photography (as a hobby/sideline work). In both cases a correctly calibrated and profiled processing setup including the screen is a must. I.e. no point spending hours on an image only to find it displays badly on everybodies monitors, or much worse, doesn't look right when it goes to print.

I've yet to find a single display on a laptop that meets this requirement. Yes, you can profile them, but a laptop screen is always a compromise. And they are too small for "proper" processing work, e.g. Photoshop.

Cheers

Ian

[rfdesigner]

Thanks all

Olly: I was thinking about a very good large format screen, plugging into the laptop when I need to image process, I am used to using additional plug in screens on laptops so this is what I defaulted to when I thought about image processing... I agree my current laptop screen leaves a lot to be desired, colour is dependant on viewing angle . What would you look for in a image processing screen?.. any reccomendations.

Ian: good point.. maybe a cheapo laptop might fill the gap I have right now then I can go to a desktop to do the processing when I need the screen and MIPS... you might just have saved me a lot of brownie points with my better half

David: Sadly Ubuntu is no longer available on dells.. so it looks like a windoze tax is unavoidable.

Derek

[focaldepth]

Just bought an Acer 5742 from Tesco for £350. It is very fast for running DSS. Worth a look even if only to eliminate from your enquiries.

Comes with 3GB + 500GB Intel i3-370 2.4GHz. (4 cpus (threads))

You can add 8GB ram for about £80 these days. I will be.

[focaldepth]

I would reckon on replacing any computer every 2 years as they are just obsolete. It took us years to get purchasing dept at work to drop computer life form 7 years to 2 years. Buy cheap and bin it in 2 years is my motto.