Laptop recommendations wanted

[Gregnat73]

Hi

I'm considering getting into a bit of astrophotography but it seems that most webcams and processing software are geared towards Windows and my laptop is a Mac. I know very little about computers (my current laptop is provided by work) so I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions for a decent cheap Windows laptop I could get.

Cheers

Greg

[Wolfgangwand]

Is running Windows on your Mac not an option ?

[Bizibilder]

You don't need a top spec laptop but you do need a decent sized hard drive for all your movies (they soon mount up!) and one with as many USB ports as possible (lappy's are notoriously shy on USB ports!).  For cheap try these folk : http://www.morgancomputers.co.uk/default.asp  (usual disclaimer) they have a good range and you can pick up a Windows 7 lappy for a decent price.

[Kropster]

I like Dell Latitudes... generally built like tanks to withstand business use.

A refurbished one from the Dell Outlet would be a good buy.

[LukeSkywatcher]

From experience..............i'd avoid Dell. Lenovo or Acer is a better way to go. The biggest HD possible. USB ports are good (cant have too many). My Acer has 3 and a HDMI port. The processor speed is also important. i5 or above the way to go.

[Naemeth]

Definitely some good recommendations here; I'm in the same camp as you (as I have a Macbook Pro) and have thought about the various options. From what I understand, here are your choices (and this is information I've picked up, I haven't tested any of the emulators or Boot Camp):

1) Use Mac software - From what I've found, support for some cameras (DMK for instance) doesn't seem to exist for Mac unless you've got a copy of Astro IIDC (which is no longer made!)

2) Emulate Windows on your Mac (using VMFusion / Parallels) - As with all emulation, you have to be careful as it is very demanding on your system as both the Windows OS and Mac OS have to fight for the available RAM

3) Install Windows on your Mac, partition your hard drive - Cheap and easy option really, copies of Windows 7 are fairly cheap and it saves buying a new laptop

4) Buying a new Windows laptop - This has advantages of course but can be the most expensive of all the options. For capture, you don't need a powerful laptop, but processing is computer intensive.

I might go down the spare laptop route providing I can find a cheap enough one, but the Boot Camp option is always there. As I've found, the first two aren't really viable for everything (capture should be fine on an emulator, processing would be slower) in AP.

HTH

[Gregnat73]

Hi

Thanks for all the advice... Don't think I could run Windows on my Mac as it actually belongs to work. I guess I'll shop around for a Windows laptop... It'd be so much simpler if manufacturers made things run on both systems!!

Cheers

[riklaunim]

Some say it's not cheap to provide OSX-native support for such hardware. USA-based companies could have more Mac users than in Europe and so on. Also machine visions systems like in factories, production lines often run on industry-grade components or embedded computers modules. Those do not run OSX. Specialized scientific cameras can and companies then often support OSX

"Windows" laptops aren't bad, you can freely pick what you want. I have a Clevo W110ER and they managed to make it soundless for daily usage while yet having quad core i7 in a 11.6" laptop. I also got MSI GP70 in my hands lately (17.3", quad Haswell). it's big, but annoyingly it allows only one HDD (but it's lighter than my old 15"). Variants with extra mSATAs were unavailable here, only few global shops have them... As for Clevo barebones - distributors try to sell old barebones now ebay as Haswell is selling and core customers don't want those old ones.

Some tips:

- pick Intel over AMD (some AMD chipsets have problems with some cameras)

- a lot of RAM (16GB) can help (like actually using RAM buffering of big AVI), but it's not required if you don't want to spend more

- I would avoid ultrabooks and netbooks if not checked - they may underpower USBs

- if you have a USB2 camera the laptop should have USB2 and not only USB3 as not everything will work when connected to USB3

- for fast Solar System cameras a fast HDD would be a good choice (decent 7200 RPM, or 5400 RPM for smaller cameras). SSD is not needed (and it's small, while multiple AVIs may easily weight 200-300 GB)

- if you have power supply available - maybe not a laptop but a nettop or all-in-one PC?

- CPU power isn't needed for recording, buy may help a lot during stacking. If you want to stack on the same computer - exclude Atoms and other single core CPUs.

For extra flexibility you could look on ebay if there are good laptops (maybe bit older) with ExpressCard/SmartCard slots - will allow adding a card that can provide USB2/3/GigE/Firewire800 interfaces for future cameras if needed (although it's not "critical" to have it). For non-laptop a custom built mini-ITX "nettop" would provide PCIe for needed controller.

[Bukko]

Hi, Greg,

I am pretty certain there are Mac users on this site that use it for imaging, so there is probably all the software you require.

Just a thought, maybe re-posting and asking for "Mac user software for imaging" or something like that might help.

On this post, much of the advice is good, but the speed of the computer/amount of RAM defines how long you have to wait for the results.. If you are happy to start something running, then go out for an hour (!) then it's likely an old laptop would suffice. RAM is key, though, so make sure anything you plan to use has lots. And, as has been said, the image files can load up a HDD retty quickly, though once stacked and the final image obtained, they can be archived.

My problem is we measure our HDD space in Terabytes, so end up keeping almost everything..

Good luck and when you get there, don't forget to post some pix.

Gordon.