Laptop choice??

[bosun21]

I am looking for a laptop that i can use for astrophotography. I am just branching out into the imaging world as i have been all visual up to now. What specs should I be looking for?. It doesn’t have to be lightning quick doing the processing, just as long as it’s capable of the task. I recall reading somewhere that AMD processors are best avoided. Is this relevant? Thanks in advance 

[Clarkey]

Are you planning to just capture the data with it or do the image processing after with it too? For the basic image capture you won't need anything particularly fast. I use a basic pentium with SSD and it is absolutely fine. (I can process with it, but it is quite slow). For image processing I would get something slightly more powerful - particularly if using PI.

WRT AMD, I do not feel there is a problem with them. I have an AMD Rysen processor in my main image processing desktop as it was the best value for money.

[Jerry Barnes]

I have an Intel i7 processor, 32GB ram and a 1TB SSD in my laptop plus a separate graphics card.  What you need depends on how much image processing you want to do.  Some Pixinsight steps still take a long time, say an hour.  Image editing benefits from processing power, RAM and a good graphics card but you can work effectively with a lower spec than I have, part of what you pay for is a bit of future proofing.  I wouldn't go less than i5, 8GB RAM, 512 GB SSD and integrated graphics but I'm sure there are lots of people who work quite happily with less.  I'd definitely go for SSD (Solid State Drive) but a separate place to store all your light frames after working on them might be useful as they use up space very quickly.

AMD are good processors so if you find a suitable package with one it should be fine.  I've had them in the past without problems.

 

[bosun21]

The ones I’ve been looking at so far are the i5  8GB 256GB models. I will look at some of the 512GB models. Thanks 

[The Lazy Astronomer]

For capture, really almost anything will do. USB3 and SSD are a bonus (particularly for high frame rate planetary), but not essential.

If you have one lying around, any old laptop from the last 5 - 10 years will likely suffice - I use an 8 year old laptop, the only upgrade l made was to swap the slow HDD for an old 256gb SSD that l was no longer using. My planetary captures tend to be in the range of 20 - 50gb, and my deepsky camera creates files approx 23mb in size, so more than enough space for several nights of imaging (files are deleted from the capture PC once transferred to the processing PC).

Processing is a bit of a different story. Here, ideally you'd want the most powerful PC you can afford (or plenty of patience). I'm generally not a fan of working on laptops, so I won't make any specific recommendations, but I think you're in the right ballpark with what you're looking at already. For longer term storage of raw data, large external HDDs can be had quite cheaply, so don't worry too much about the size of the storage in the laptop itself. 

On AMD: the Ryzen CPUs tend to top the Pixinsight benchmark tests, so certainly no problems with them (and I say this as a lifelong Intel fan!).

[bosun21]

5 minutes ago, The Lazy Astronomer said:

For capture, really almost anything will do. USB3 and SSD are a bonus (particularly for high frame rate planetary), but not essential.

If you have one lying around, any old laptop from the last 5 - 10 years will likely suffice - I use an 8 year old laptop, the only upgrade l made was to swap the slow HDD for an old 256gb SSD that l was no longer using. My planetary captures tend to be in the range of 20 - 50gb, and my deepsky camera creates files approx 23mb in size, so more than enough space for several nights of imaging (files are deleted from the capture PC once transferred to the processing PC).

Processing is a bit of a different story. Here, ideally you'd want the most powerful PC you can afford (or plenty of patience). I'm generally not a fan of working on laptops, so I won't make any specific recommendations, but I think you're in the right ballpark with what you're looking at already. For longer term storage of raw data, large external HDDs can be had quite cheaply, so don't worry too much about the size of the storage in the laptop itself. 

On AMD: the Ryzen CPUs tend to top the Pixinsight benchmark tests, so certainly no problems with them (and I say this as a lifelong Intel fan!).

Thanks for the heads up 👍I have plenty of food for thought now 

[Clarkey]

It's always worth looking at re-furbished laptops. There are quite a few around with a decent warranty.

Personally I would go for the extra RAM rather than SSD storage if you are on a tight budget. You can always add a normal HDD cheaply and use the SSD as 'working memory'.

[bosun21]

3 minutes ago, Clarkey said:

It's always worth looking at re-furbished laptops. There are quite a few around with a decent warranty.

Personally I would go for the extra RAM rather than SSD storage if you are on a tight budget. You can always add a normal HDD cheaply and use the SSD as 'working memory'.

This is the avenue I’m actually taking. Going for the RAM first and foremost. I have also got the scope to include in my budgeting and I’m still inside it. (For now)

[Elp]

If it's refurb and it's running Windows make sure it's a 64 bit operating system otherwise it won't use more than 4gb ram max. From experience under 100pc load I have never had a computer use more than 8gb ram but for future proofing more ram wouldn't hurt.

[AstroMuni]

15 hours ago, bosun21 said:

I am looking for a laptop that i can use for astrophotography. I am just branching out into the imaging world as i have been all visual up to now. What specs should I be looking for?.

Over an above what others have said, your choice would also be dictated by which software you decide to go for - both for capture, mount control and processing. There are different options depending on your preference for Windows or Linux. If you are linux inclined then the Raspberry Pi is the least expensive option for capture & mount control. Similarly for processing you could make a start with free software like Siril, Gimp and others before you take the plunge into the world of Pixinsight. These are available on Windows & linux. The first two are less memory hungry so will work perfectly on older laptops.

[bosun21]

3 minutes ago, AstroMuni said:

Over an above what others have said, your choice would also be dictated by which software you decide to go for - both for capture, mount control and processing. There are different options depending on your preference for Windows or Linux. If you are linux inclined then the Raspberry Pi is the least expensive option for capture & mount control. Similarly for processing you could make a start with free software like Siril, Gimp and others before you take the plunge into the world of Pixinsight. These are available on Windows & linux. The first two are less memory hungry so will work perfectly on older laptops.

I would be sticking with Windows as I’m too old to be learning new operating systems 

[Jerry Barnes]

Lots of good points here.

Desktops are normally less expensive, easier to upgrade (longer life) and more power per pound, modern linux based systems can look very like windows to the normal user (and you dont have to pay for windows).  There is amazing free software about for processing.  You could choose a normal hard disk and replace with a SSD in a year or two as an upgrade.  

A lot of the choices come down to a trade off between ease or use/set up and cost and my priorities probably don't match yours, eg I'd be happy to change a disk while I'd not like to dismantle a mount.

[RT65CB-SWL]

One other thing to bear in mind is the GB/UK climate.. You may need to consider things like dew, temperature fluctuations, etc., if it is not used/setup in a dry environment.

I am not into astro-imaging at the time of writing, but I use one of these...  It is a Panasonic Toughbook CF19.

They are expensive new or refurbished for the 'newer' models... but they are very rugged. I have owned mine for several years and it has survived everything, (apart from dropping it into the Mariana Trench/Marianas Trench, or a nuclear reactor), etc.

[nfotis]

You don't need a high end laptop for image capturing and controlling mount, filter wheel etc. Heck, even a slow Raspberry Pi has enough horsepower for this, and it's cheap enough you can dedicate it solely for astrophotography purposes.

For processing, CPU and memory are major parameters. It may be a better idea to use a desktop computer with eg a Ryzen 3 5700G processor (eight cores, 16 threads) and 32+ GB RAM instead of looking for a pricey high performance laptop, which soon will be thermally throttled as you are hitting it with heavy processing.

N.F.

[ONIKKINEN]

I would build a desktop PC for processing and get a cheap and small scopeside minipc for capture.

Chances are the combination would still be better value for money than a laptop. I wouldnt want to use a laptop in the field or for processing, so this is a no brainer for me. If you dont want to tinker with tech and must get a prebuilt, the value gap is probably smaller, but processing will always be better done on a desktop PC due to thermal limitations in even high end laptops throttling power a lot.