Imaging laptop spec?

[redstamp]

I am looking to get a laptop to help with my astro imaging (DSLR & webcam).  The laptop will be dedicated for this purpose and only for outdoor image capture and my indoor desktop will do the grunt-work of image processing.

I was wondering what experience other Stargazers have had in this respect?  I have included some initial thoughts for critique:

Hardware:

 1) reasonable sized screen, although ability to zoom means less important than weight saving of smaller screen

 2) a large SSD hard disk for faster and lots of image capture

 3) USB 3 for faster image capture and transfer

 4) battery life probably less important than weight saving, as extended use would require a powerpack anyway

 5) low weight for portability and to mount laptop on scope tripod

 6) reasonable processor speed and RAM for general speed

 7) lots of USB ports for peripherals

Software:

 1) Simple RAW processing software for focus adjustments

 2) Backyard Nikon

 3) SharpCap for webcam image acquisition

 4) Maybe Castrator or other simple clipping software to save space

 5) Stellarium to understand what I am actually looking at ;-)

 6) Adobe Camera RAW & plenty of CODECs!

All inputs to hardware and software recommendations are much welcomed!!

Thanks in advance for any comments - and I will post the final hardware and software spec based on feedback in case useful to any other beginners.

[bogdog]

you have listed lots of wants,but have not listed your budget for it?

Hardware:

1) reasonable sized screen, although ability to zoom means less important than weight saving of smaller screen

2) a large SSD hard disk for faster and lots of image capture

3) USB 3 for faster image capture and transfer

4) battery life probably less important than weight saving, as extended use would require a powerpack anyway

5) low weight for portability and to mount laptop on scope tripod

6) reasonable processor speed and RAM for general speed

7) lots of USB ports for peripherals

check amazon for laptops with the spec you want as above and see how much it will cost

if its mostly for outdoor imaging you dont want to be throwing £400-£500 away on something that could possibly fall into the first puddle you encounter

on your first night out with it lol

[lensman57]

I am looking to get a laptop to help with my astro imaging (DSLR & webcam).  The laptop will be dedicated for this purpose and only for outdoor image capture and my indoor desktop will do the grunt-work of image processing.

I was wondering what experience other Stargazers have had in this respect?  I have included some initial thoughts for critique:

Hardware:

 1) reasonable sized screen, although ability to zoom means less important than weight saving of smaller screen

 2) a large SSD hard disk for faster and lots of image capture

 3) USB 3 for faster image capture and transfer

 4) battery life probably less important than weight saving, as extended use would require a powerpack anyway

 5) low weight for portability and to mount laptop on scope tripod

 6) reasonable processor speed and RAM for general speed

 7) lots of USB ports for peripherals

Software:

 1) Simple RAW processing software for focus adjustments

 2) Backyard Nikon

 3) SharpCap for webcam image acquisition

 4) Maybe Castrator or other simple clipping software to save space

 5) Stellarium to understand what I am actually looking at ;-)

 6) Adobe Camera RAW & plenty of CODECs!

All inputs to hardware and software recommendations are much welcomed!!

Thanks in advance for any comments - and I will post the final hardware and software spec based on feedback in case useful to any other beginners.

Hi,

You do not need a high spec laptop for image capture.I bought mine used off eBay for £120.00 and it is loaded with Win XP 32 with 3Gig of Ram as XP 32 will not see anymore than 3Gig. The only important point for me was to have atleast 4 independant and fully functional USB2 ports which this unit had, this is very important. It runs Nebulasity 3 or APT for image capture and CDC and EQMOD too. I can connect a CCD, Guide camera, Electronic filter wheel and a GPUSB unit for guiding at the same time without issues. I then transfer the captured files to my processing laptop  that runs a Win 7 64 Pro, using an Intel i5 processor with 8 Gig of Ram, the HD is Samsung 500 Gig SSD and to be honest at times I feel that even this spec is not quite enough as far as processing is concerned. You need to be a bit careful using a laptop for image capture outside if the humidity is very high, moisture and electrics don't go together well so some measure of isolation is required.

Regards,

A.G

[redstamp]

In case anyone's interested I went for a £65 refurbished Asus Eee 904 HD off eBay and spent another £60 on a 64GB SSD.

Great little netbook and has display resolution of 1024 x 600, although only on a 8.9" screen - big enough to run what I need though.  Importantly 3 USB ports.

Removed loads of Windows junk using this guide https://law.wustl.edu/computersupport/help/Instructions/Optimize%20WinXP/How%20to%20optimize%20Windows%20XP%20for%20the%20best%20performance.htm

and got it running v smoothly with a good percentage removed from the boot-time and better speed improvement.

[lensman57]

In case anyone's interested I went for a £65 refurbished Asus Eee 904 HD off eBay and spent another £60 on a 64GB SSD.

Great little netbook and has display resolution of 1024 x 600, although only on a 8.9" screen - big enough to run what I need though.  Importantly 3 USB ports.

Removed loads of Windows junk using this guide https://law.wustl.edu/computersupport/help/Instructions/Optimize%20WinXP/How%20to%20optimize%20Windows%20XP%20for%20the%20best%20performance.htm

and got it running v smoothly with a good percentage removed from the boot-time and better speed improvement.

It sounds good.

A.G