Alternative used Laptop options....

[Gtech]

I've been using a Samsung NC10 netbook for Astrophotography for a while now but have found it to be a little under powered in both CPU load and battery life.

Asking the NC10 to control a NEQ6, guide via a Lodestar, grab GPS co-ordinates, run Temperhum, control a dSLR and run all their apps via ASCOM through a 7 port hub, explains the occasional CPU overload and sub 2.5 hour battery life. I also found dew wasn't doing the NC10 much good when running long sessions under skies in the UK's climate.

Looking at alternatives, I thought a tabletesque Panasonic Toughbook CF-19 would be a better option, its rugged, IP65 rated and operates for ~7 hours under normal load. However, the £3.5k price tag was completely out of the question. So I wondered how much a used one would cost.

Well, I was surprised. Ebay lists a 4 year old "Grade A" CF-19Mk2 for ~£300, while a "Grade B" sells for ~£200. That's less than 10% residual value after 4 years...unbelievable value!

To be fair, the CF-19Mk2 wont win awards for processor speed, but its 1Ghz Core Duo 2 is a little over twice as fast as the NC10's Atom....hopefully adequate to run Win7 and all the above apps/hardware without a hiccup.

So I decided to take the plunge, grab a "grade A" for £320 (inc P&P) and set about putting it to work.

When it arrived, I was a pleasantly surprised to find that it indeed looked like new. I'm guessing it was a store cupboard item. Not a scratch on the case or digitizer screen.

This thing is military spec'd rugged and weighs about the same as 17" MacbookPro. It will defintely take some abuse, I stood on the thing to see if the hype holds up. It does, but I wont be driving a tractor over it just yet!.

There's plenty of connectivity, two USB2s, serial, GPS (integrated addon capability), WWAN, WLAN, Bluetooth etc, all protected with rubber covers. The blurb states its IP65 rated, that's dust tight and shower proof. More than adequate for outdoor astro pursuits.    

My first CF-19 session lasted ~5 hours on a fully charge battery. This included slewing, control, guiding and capturing for ~3 hours. I even left both GPS and Temperhum USB dongles on for added load. The old core 2 duo managed all the processor tasks, peaking at around CPU 75% load.  

In truth, my only problem now was battery life. I really want to get close to 7-8 hours.

So I looked into hard drive replacement options.

The CF-19Mk2 comes as standard with an old 80GB Hitachi SATA hard drive which consumes ~5.5w. While boot time into Win 7 runs at 90secs. So swapping out the old Hitachi for a SDD should considerable improve both battery life and boot time.

I researched various SSD options and found that the new Samsung 840 Evo 120Gb (at £80) consumes less than 1w and runs at SATA3 6Gb (total overkill for the CF-19's SATA 1.5Gb throughput but easier to source).

Having already set up the 80Gb with all necessary apps and tuned Win 7 to my liking, I decided to clone (via USB) the 80Gb drive onto the new Evo SSD. It took around 40mins and I eagerly swapped the drive over.

Boot time dropped to under 30sec and battery life increased to just ~7 hours (under similar load conditions).

£400 may seem a lot of money to pay for a used laptop, and yes you could buy a new i5 branded product from Acer, Dell, Asus etc, but none of them can really hold a candle to the Toughbook CF-19 for durability. In my opinion, given their low resell value they should be considered an absolute bargain for astrophotography. 

[LukeSkywatcher]

I love my i5,750Gig,6gig RAM Acer. Fully charged i get 5hrs battery life. Mind you, i dont use it for astronomy. I'm sure it would do well out in the field.

I'd never buy a Dell again. It was a dud from day one and found it hard to connect (and stay connected) to the internet even when hard wired to the modem. 

Best thing it ever did,was die.

[jiberjaber]

that's a great write up. I'm using a nc20 and considering a replacement so will take a look at one of these :-)

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

[Gtech]

According to Passmark, the NC10 gets a score of 283, the NC20 is 377 and the CF-19's Core 2 duo U7500 is 609. By today's standard they all all pretty poor, even a elcheapo i3 will be in the 1000s, but my needs were specific. I wanted enough cpu power to run a limited set of apps balanced with battery life and exceptional durability, all at realtively low cost. 

In contrast, my son dropped my Macbook Pro on the carpet and the corner bent upwards rendering the power port useless (fixed at £250). My other lad dropped his Acer and it cracked the shell. You can drop a Toughbook on concrete from 3' and it will bounce back. I can also leave it open in rain and it will continue to work.

As a side note, I also do a lot of motorcycle touring (KTM990 Adv) and camp most of the time, so theToughbook will be ideal.  I'll no doubt add a DIY GPS Ublox 6 receiver to the Toughbook for navigation and location info.

At the end of the day, these older Toughbooks are by no means powerhouse machines but given their low resell value they are a steal.

[frugal]

There are currently CF-29 Toughbooks on EBay for £99 with free delivery. 1.5Gb Ram, 80Gb hard drive. I have ordered one as I am not happy with taking my 18.5" i7 laptop out and balancing it on the edge of the pond in the dark

[Clockwork_Orange]

Nice write up. I have looked at getting one of these myself, as you say it ticks all the boxes for astro use. I'll probably get one in the new year.

John