Laptop

[Dave Wall 36]

Going to look at some laptops later are there any particular things I should look out for or will most laptops be ok controling mounts and doing astrophotograpy etc.

[Kirscovitch 537]

I would imagine most would be fine as long as you have enough memory. I just have a cheap HP and so far it has done everything I need it to. 

[Lonestar70 214]

Hi Dave,

As Matt said... pretty much any laptop will suffice as long as it has around 4Gb memory and enough USB 2 ports... USB 3 has proven to be problematic for some users...also get one with a large capacity hard drive (at least 250Gb or larger)... astrophotos' take a lot of space.

 I would suggest you try and find one with Windows 7... 32bit or 64bit for ease of finding working drivers... Windows 8 again has created many problems on this front.

Hope this helps.

Best Regards.

Sandy.

[Stargazer33 1,033]

I've got an old HP that I bought off of E-bay and it works fine with SharpCap, AP, EOS utilities and PHG. I haven't tried it with guiding the mount through ASCOM but everything else works okay. I'm running XP by the way.

One thing I would say is that if you are not going to run off of mains power then get the highest capacity battery that you can. You will be surprised how many times it will run out just at the most critical moment otherwise! 

[Dave Wall 36]

Thanks for your time guys very kind of you.

[frugal 385]

I use an old Toughbook that seems to work fine for controlling the camera in the field and it is tough as old boots, does not mind getting damp and only cost me £99. I transfer the photos to another computer indoors for processing.

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk

[mallorcasaint 223]

Morgan Computers have some great deals on laptops. I have several from them. http://www.morgancomputers.co.uk/c/404/Laptops-Netbooks/

[LukeSkywatcher 15,655]

What's your budget?. For between £400-500,you can get one similar to the one i got (Acer Aspire) with the following specs:

4-6 Gig memory will be good, i5 processor, Biggest HD that you can afford (650-750 Gig will last you quite a while). 

I'll hunt down a link.

http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/laptops/1296052/acer-aspire-e1-571

Also worth checking out are Lenovo laptops. Apparently they are really good and not expensive.

Edited December 10, 2013 by LukeSkywatcher

[Alien 13 7,376]

+1 for the panasonic toughbook a lot of these where bought by the defence and aerospace industries and sat in storage never used then sold on, a batch of them do come up on e-bay from time to time.

[Sir-Henry 10]

If at all possible it could be best to run a mains lead (with full RCD protection) out to the scope. At this time of year all batteries will feel the cold and give you less running time. Don't forget that the mains adapter needs to be kept completely dry as well!

[Dave Wall 36]

Thanks for all your help is windows 8 a definite no no, been looking in our catalogue seems like they are all windows 8.

[Gartut200 4]

Thanks for all your help is windows 8 a definite no no, been looking in our catalogue seems like they are all windows 8.

Places like dabs and ebuyer will have some win7 stocks still on their books. But if your out and about i would go second hand Win7 64bit 4gb i3

[LukeSkywatcher 15,655]

My new laptop runs on Win 8. Not the worst in the world. Takes a bit of getting used to compared.

[nightfisher 7,479]

have a look on bay of fleas, HP6910p i got a referb with 4 g ram 500g hard drive and a very fast processor running win 7 64 bit for £150

[Kirscovitch 537]

I have Windows 8. As Paul said takes some getting used to but everything I've used so far (stellarium, registax) seems to work so far. (Fingers crossed!)

[Dave Wall 36]

Took the catalogue option which will give me more cash now for accesories . I've had a Toshiba Satellite C55-1HL with Intel® Pentium® Processor, 8Gb RAM, 1Tb Hard drive. Only problem is it's windows 8.1 hope I have it will be ok.

[mallorcasaint 223]

If you don't like Windows 8 then just install Classic Shell and it will look and work like Win 7 and it's free.

[Sandancer10 200]

Hi Dave, I have been looking to upgrade my laptop too and thought the 8gb option the best one. The reason I say this is when I try and use DSS with my DSLR images and try to drizzle I keep getting a out of memory message. I know a lot of members say 4gb is okay, but I think that to stand the test of time (say the next 2 years or so) 6 or 8gb is a safer bet.

Brenda

[CSM 139]

I bought a Zoostorm laptop without an operating system precisely because I didn't want Windows 8.  That way you can also control all the others programs you put on.  Got Windows 7 online.

[frugal 385]

I know a lot of members say 4gb is okay, but I think that to stand the test of time (say the next 2 years or so) 6 or 8gb is a safer bet.

Brenda

Un less the applications you are using is built for 64 bit then it will only be able to address 4gb of memory. Most astro applications are only 32 and still assume you only have 1 CPU core.

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk

[Scoper 20]

If you dont like Win8 then get the Win 8.1 free download from MS which reinstalls the taskbar and fixes many bugs, Win7 is also available as an OEM on eBay from A-Class Products, this does install on any PC as I have it on mine.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/aclass-software-products

Much cheaper.

[Dave Wall 36]

Thanks guys Downloading 8.1 now

[Dave Wall 36]

Got the NEQ6 hooked up on windows 8.1 now :-)