Laptop question

[Wetsparks]

Or have a look at a second hand Panasonic Toughbook - they are designed to be used outdoors, i.e. damp-proof.

Another vote here for the above. I paid about 120 quid for mine off Ebay. Its fine for all the controls needed for the scope and cameras even though it's running XP. Then I just copy the images over to me in house 19" laptop to work on them.

[DAKz]

Thanks Dakz. Reading your post you think this will be sufficient then for what I need?

http://www.dell.com/uk/p/inspiron-15r-5537/pd

Yes it would be way more then suitable hardware wise. If your way comfortable with Windows 8.1 then if should server you well for years.

[lensman57]

Im hoping I can buy it with windows 7, dont really want 8.

I too got mine from eBay for about £130.00 and with windows XP ( long may it last ) it is compatible with all the capture software and hardware. Win 8 is not an acceptable platform with so many driver issues.

A.G

[HumptyMoo]

Hp's are nice laptops but Dakz is right about the video side, we have loads with dead screens, my work one went not long after getting it. Now I have a Dell and it's been top notch for 3years+ but it was a high end one when purchased.

The Toughbooks are definitely worth considering though for ruggedness, I used to look after a sales force of about 30 on the road types and a band of off site engineers, short of running the things over with a forklift (yeah did that ) they are bullet proof.

One point made above though with regards to cooling, sure you don't want to overheat anything, but, the operating temperature range of a chip in it's stated operating parameters is actually quite forgiving. Sure overclockers want as cool as possible (even to the extreme) as they are stepping outside of that operating envelope and thus having to contend with higher thermal output and in turn decreased stability. Basically what I am saying is, in most cases unless you are doing heavy 3d cad in a cardboard box you will probably be ok as the laptops of today regulate their temperature with variable rates in chip speed and fan cooling etc.

I will concede though that running in a box is likely to cause more battery drain as the fan will try to compensate for the slight lack of airflow, however, if it's cold outside I would expect that to offset it.

SSD for the hard drive will also save power and increase speed hugely over even a 7200rpm 2.5 incher HDD. Better knock resistance also.

[frugal]

+1 for the Toughbooks. I got mine for £99 delivered. It only has a 1024x768 screen, but so what all the AstroTrac capture programs let you zoom in so that does not matter. It only has a Celery processor and 1.5gb of RAM, but that quite happily copes with XP and Backyard EOS. For a simple image capture laptop in the field you do not need a spec laptop.

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

[DAKz]

Toughbooks are great...almost.

Microsoft has ended support for Windows XP, (Thankfully)

So now with it exiting into a well earned retirement, it's time to catapult into the 21st century

Here is the problem we have with toughbooks...parts.

Yes they are tough, but they do break, mostly because people think "tough" means indestructible.

A hard drive caddy is outrageous, a screen will double the price of one. Keyboard, dvd drive, etc since they are niche model they can cost more then the whole laptop.

The screen and graphic resolution is not good, and since the OP wanted something capable of HD is why I suggested the Dells.

The e series (e6400-e65xx) are amazing little laptops that have a metal body, lid. and most parts are easily interchangeable with other brands of laptops, (HP, Gateway, etc.)

As for the cooling, heating issue, yes the chips are made to run a lot hotter then hopefully most of us will ever see, however...

We see laptops suffering with thermal shutdown issues quite often. Most of the time when the processor gets to the thermal shutdown limit (depending on the processor aprox 65c) the video chip has already suffered.

Now another point to keep in mind is that "newer" laptops use a "thermal" pad for the video chip rather then even a cheap thermal paste. Most of these video chips are arranged away from the main cooling flow, and then with the thermal pad it really is left to suffer.

For this reason, when we have to repair a video issue we remove the thermal pad, add a copper shim, and apply arctic silver 5 to both side of the shim, and to the processor. This does involve a little bending to make sure that full contact is made with the video chip after the cheap think pad is removed, however we have done 110 of these since September, and none have failed. The reason I picked that date is because that's when we ordered out copper shims.

Since cold is less of a detriment then heat I suggest that nothing to obstruct any airflow, and prop up the back part of the laptop.

A "cooling pad" would be ideal but then you lose a USB port in the deal.

 I guess the point here is to get something that is cheap, but if you go to cheap, you will want better as you use it, just like our telescopes, we always want better.

As far as Windows goes... give Windows 7 64 bit a shot, you will not be disappointed, yes it will run all your 32 bit apps, and will even run them in Windows XP compatibility mode.

Go to the power setting and enable "active cooling" and you should have no issues.

Now to brag about my little Dell e6400,

I live in a state where it is winter like 15 months out of the year, this past winter we dealt with temps -55f, (-48.3333c) which is colder then my telescope or my person could handle, but the laptop still managed to crank out some pictures through the canon t3 on a tripod.

it has an extended battery which running in normal power mode lasts for a little over 2 hours at that temp, much longer then me or the Canon could go.

In our shop, we sell all brands of laptops, and desktops, I really have my pick of any brand and model I want, but while the Dell will not set any records for gaming video, it does very well at running Sharpcap, Stellarium, APT, BYEOS, Registax, and Adobe photoshop, all inside a metal lid, and base. It is a simple dual core 2.4 ghz intel processor, running Windows 7 Enterprise X64 on 4gb RAM, these really can be had for cheap and do amazingly well, for me. You can get the e6500 series which has the led lit keyboard which would be handy, these can be found on ebay for less then $200 USD, and honestly I sell them out of the shop for about $175-200. OK done bragging.

Guys this is the one part of our "sport" where you don't have to go in the hole to do well at, you can go get a $3000 alienware laptop, or gamers Republic, but your still going to only do as good as your software settings, your optics, your imaging device, and truth...anything that will run on windows XP, Windows 7 will shred!

Understand that I am not disagreeing with any of the other posts, I am just sharing my experience in both the computer field, and in the imaging field, I am new again at this astronomy thing after a 40 year absence and the boards have made me welcomed, and I read them all the time, way more then I post, I love the DIY section, got a couple posts on there. So thank you for allowing me to share my thoughts on this, and clear skies and warmer temps to all!

[dmahon]

Try Morgan computers for a cheap second user laptop. They have dells, toughbooks and pretty much all the major brands.

[Dave_D]

I use this

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v369/vanityassassin/IMG_20140319_075855_zps5drvtb67.jpg

Cost me £70 off fleabay. Uses an intel atom but runs all the software in my signature and has more USB ports than i'll ever need. What i did do though is set it up as a wireless access point so i can use remote desktop (which connects directly so in the field it all still works) with my tablet (or any other wireless device). At the moment it uses an external wireless g adaptor until i find a suitable wireless n internal card. It sits happily at the foot of my mount pillar, doesn't have wires trailing as they go straight up the pillar to the eq head so i can wander round freely with just my tablet in hand, and have full control (usually in the house, keeping an eye on the scope through the window) and as it takes 12v dc input, it can be powered either by mains or a lead from my power tank. It's a reasonable alternative to a laptop, has vastly better airflow, and has so far, never had dew problems.

[DAKz]

My early evening efforts with my trusty little dell, APT, NexStar 8, the windows starting picking up so it got bad fast.

I have read where some add weight to the tripod in the accessory tray or hang it from the center of the tripod to reduce vibration, anyone got any advice on this?

I have only been back in the game since December after a 40 years absence, and this is like science fiction come true. So I am hoping as the weather gets better I can wear out the camera and telescope.

Orion Nebula, single shot no stacking

The moon last week, again single shot

Nice shot of the Alcyone Star Cluster, no stacking.

Wanted to get way more and stack them but the window was rattling the telescope pretty good so I gave up.

[Langy]

I think if you can capture a lot more frames on the DSOs and stack them properly the quality would be so much better.

For a single shot they are really good. Well done!

Sent from my Windows Phone 8X by HTC using Tapatalk

[Uranium235]

My little Acer Apsire One netbook has been left out in -20 without a whiff of dampness.

What I do is to keep the bench supply, netbook (once set up and guiding), and 240v extension reel (which also carries the network connection) inside a crock box - which (if the lid is kept closed) will be kept warm by the heat generated by the bench supply and netbook (and therefore a good place to keep EPs and finderscopes too). The gear is then monitored and controlled at distance via the household network.

Added advantage is that if you are ever caught out by rain, the electrics are proteced inside the box long enough for you to take emergency action (ie: kill the power and get the telescope and camera in first!).

[DAKz]

I think if you can capture a lot more frames on the DSOs and stack them properly the quality would be so much better.

For a single shot they are really good. Well done!

Sent from my Windows Phone 8X by HTC using Tapatalk

I agree but the wind was starting to blow pretty hard, and not sure why the other post referred to the wind as windows.

But I think for single frames yea they are a good start.

Looking forward to better weather as we are back down to low teens. And remember I am just starting with AP.

I got to counting nights of viewing since Dec 12th and the total comes to 8 nights. Pretty sad.